In a first-grade classroom, routines are usually about reading time, recess, and the occasional art project.
But this one came with fluffier interruptions: puppies. It started with one or two foster pups, just visitors for the week.
As the children held leashes and learned to wipe paws, the number kept climbing. Soon the classroom had become something entirely different from what it was Monday morning.
Pennsylvania teachers noticed changes: not just in the schedule, but in how students moved, spoke, and cared. The pups weren’t just pets; they were part of the day.
What happened next turned this simple idea into a story about teaching, compassion, and over 110 little lives changing too.
An Incredible Idea From The Teacher
It started out as an ordinary day when the first-grade teacher Brooke Hughes got an amazing idea that could change her approach to teaching.
It would be great if she and her class fostered puppies together inside a classroom. At first, Hughes wasn’t sure if it would work, but then she realized it could become a reality.
She told The Dodo: “What began as a ‘crazy idea’ has grown into something truly life-changing for everyone involved.”
The Pennsylvania teacher started fostering puppies during the COVID pandemic for the first time, and her class picked up on the fact that she had puppies through Zoom classes.
Hughes continued by saying: “Even through a screen, the connection between my class and the puppies was something special. As a first grade teacher, I wanted to create a space where students could learn empathy, responsibility and self-regulation in a hands-on way and continue to help save these precious lives.”
She reached out to rescuers with the full intention of finding a foster home for many puppies and she called it the Foster Tales Puppy Therapy.
Hughes started bringing in puppies to her class, and the program was a hit. Many of them were finding forever homes pretty quickly.
She had a program that children had to go through in order to earn their first puppies and it was something really special.
Children Learned How To Take Care Of Dogs
Hughes said: “My class had to earn our first puppies through demonstrating attention, focus, teamwork and kindness.
Some of them have never had puppies so it took a while before they were experienced in caring for them. With time, everything changed.
In total, Hughes and her class have fostered over 110 puppies, and all of them have found their forever homes shortly after that.
The entire program was a hit. The kids loved the puppies and the pups got to learn how to live in an environment with other people, which is useful when they find their new homes.
Sometimes, certain fosters would even get adopted by the students and their families, and that is always great to see.
Hughes ended by saying: “It’s so special to see those connections last far beyond the classroom!”
I have to admit, it is something truly special, and it’s beautiful to see how this program has shown so much promise. Hughes is still doing it and it’s changing lives for so many people.