A spoodle, labradoodle and groodle have become permanent staff members at Indooroopilly State High School as part of its official therapy dog programme.

Meet Ludo and Truffles - two of the school's dedicated therapy dogs who provide support and care for both staff and students.

Seven-year-old Ludo the spoodle (to the left) was the first dog to join the school in 2018. Junior School Principal Deirdre Hall (a 2024 TEACHX award winner for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching) and Deputy Principal Sandra Odger (then Head of Inclusion) saw it as an opportunity to improve wellbeing and provide a calming influence for the school's 2,800 secondary students.

Conducting research into the benefit of therapy dogs and partnering with the University of Queensland for a study, the teachers went through the process of testing Ludo's temperament with students, filing the paperwork and getting his basic training certificate.

It's an experience they've been able to replicate with the two other therapy dogs; Pretzel the groodle began in 2021, and Truffles the labradoodle (to the right) began a year later.

The popularity of school therapy dogs has risen since the pandemic and Deirdre offers some useful advice on considering whether they could work for your school:

• start with research - talk with other schools who have therapy dogs in place
• know the differences between therapy, reading and assistance dogs
• consider temperament and hypoallergenic qualities (poodle cross-breeds are good options for people with allergies)

Indooroopilly's therapy dogs are owned by staff members (Ludo belongs to Sandra and Truffles belongs to teacher Jade Thompson), which means at least one of the dogs is able to be at the school every day of the week.

"You can see the change in our teachers' demeanour when the dogs arrive at staff meetings - they just light up" - Deirdre Hall