Brushy’s magic touch

For almost a decade, one very special yellow lab made a lasting impact, supporting hundreds of students in Revelstoke. 

If you’ve ever visited Revelstoke Secondary School (RSS) in the morning, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Brushy making his rounds, greeting staff and students with his wagging tail and friendly head boops. You may have thought he’s just looking for a few pets or hoping for a bite or two of a banana, his favourite snack. You wouldn’t be entirely wrong, but it may surprise you to discover Brushy has an entirely different agenda during his morning rounds. 

How it all began

In 2013, Brushy’s handler Dana Reaume moved to Revelstoke where she began working as a learning support teacher at RSS.

“I had always known that dogs in schools were important, but I had never had the opportunity to know that I was going to be in a [school] district for a long time,” she said.

Soon after moving to Revelstoke, Reaume realized this was her place. She was staying for the long haul, so she began investigating what it would look like to have a dog in school. During her research, she came across PADS Caber and PADS Macbeth online, two dogs trained by The Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS), a volunteer-based organization with a mission to support “people with disabilities and community care providers by partnering them with certified assistance dogs.” 

The organization raises and trains accredited service dogs, PTSD service dogs, hearing dogs and facility dogs. Upon discovering Macbeth and Caber, Reaume knew the kids she worked with, students with non-verbal autism and a variety of cognitive and physical disabilities, would benefit from an accredited facility dog in the classroom. 

The next step was approaching RSS principal Greg Kenyon and then vice-principal Andy Pfeiffer. Both were immediately on board. So was Mike Hooker, the district’s superintendent at the time. Even the district’s parent advisory council was supportive, recognizing the broader impact having a facility dog would have on all the students in the school. 

Reaume began the application process with PADS, and officially became Brushy’s primary handler and caregiver on Oct. 2, 2014. 

“The reason they put it like that is because it takes so much time and effort to breed, raise and train dogs to be able to go out into the world to work with professionals,” said Reaume, explaining it takes nearly three years of training before a PADS dog is fully trained. It’s also costly, between $30,000 and $50,000. “I don’t own Brushy, PADS owns him. They have the legal responsibility over him.”

Unlike service dogs, who are precision matched with a person who has a cognitive, physical or trauma-based disability, accredited facility dogs (AFD’s) are matched with community professionals who work with vulnerable populations. In Brushy’s case, he works with Reaume to support students who have trauma, social-emotional learning support needs or who may be experiencing poverty and other equity-based discrepancies.

“AFD’s support more than just one human, and they’re tasked to do that kind of support in all different situations,” said Reaume. 

Brushy’s magic touch

Often, Reaume said she is at a loss for words when someone asks her what Brushy does. 

“I don’t know how to explain the magic that’s in there,” she said. “I think it’s about relationships and how he helps me as a learning support teacher, as a clinical counsellor, to build relationships in a non-confrontational way. He’s like a bridge of loving fluffy yellow relationship. He’s such a calm and loving presence, it’s exactly what’s needed sometimes. It doesn’t often need words or somebody trying to fix it, it can just be let’s pet a dog. Slow down and breathe and pet a dog.”

In the mornings when Brushy makes his off-leash rounds, Reaume will sit back and watch. He’ll wander around greeting his people, but then he’ll find a student sitting by themselves. He’ll wander over, maybe stick his head on their lap, lean into them or sit on their feet. That’s when the magic happens and the bridge begins to take shape.

These moments are an in for Reaume to be able to ask the student how they’re doing. And if the students, who Reaume affectionately refers to as medium-sized humans, are overcome with waves of emotion when they’re having a bad morning or have something going on in their lives, they’ve got Brushy to support them.

“When I’m upset I come pet Brushy,” grade 12 student Ze Ogilvie said. “Brushy is always able to put a smile on my face (unless he’s licking me). I’m going to miss him.”

“Written words cannot express the magnitude of Brushy’s contributions and how much a part of our lives he encompasses, making us happier every day,” said another student, Kaleb Perrault in grade 11.

Ready for retirement

Over the years, Brushy has logged around 8,000 hours at RSS. He’s watched about 700 students graduate and eaten 4,800 cups of kibble (and probably the same number of bananas). He’s received pets and love from more than 60 staff members, visited 70 classrooms and all four schools in Revelstoke. 

His affinity for seeking out those in need of a dog’s love, and his penchant for fake snoring while pretending to sleep, has had an inexplicable impact on many students, staff and even parents.

It isn’t easy work though, and each year Brushy and Dana must pass the public access test, a requirement for Brushy to keep his blue working vest, which allows him access to public spaces. 

When PADS dogs are no longer able to meet the requirements, including tasks like walking through a grocery store without sniffing anything and maintaining a down-stay in a busy restaurant for 45-minutes, they are retired and taken out of service.

While Brushy passed his most recent public access test, Reaume said she and the PADS coordinator both agreed he’s getting tired.

“He’s 12. He’s worked for nine years supporting some of our most vulnerable humans. He’s giving me signs. He’s telling us that he’s ready to not do this anymore.”

So come June when the school year ends, Brushy will take off his working vest for good and become a pet, and Reaume and her family will officially adopt him.

And in case you’re wondering, Reaume is already on the waitlist for another PADS dog ready to work their magic.