English setter dog Will survived the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, and the one-time stray narrowly avoided death again as a result of quadriplegia.
But following those two experiences, Will’s life has taken on a new purpose: teaching children valuable life lessons in an unconventional yet effective set-up at a Christian private elementary school in Tokyo.
School dogs have been employed at St. Margaret’s Elementary School in the capital’s Suginami Ward since 2003, helping its pupils develop the qualities of compassion and empathy.
The initiative was started after one student who refused to attend school mentioned that it might be fun to attend if a dog was there. The dogs provide not just company, but also a cue for conversations, making it easier for the children to make friends with each other.
Each morning, the vice principal, Taro Yoshida, takes the three dogs to school. They often greet the students at the school entrance, and sometimes just lounge in classrooms.
The sixth-graders in charge of the canines take them for walks and kick balls around with them during breaks and after school, and the lower graders enthusiastically run up to join in with the fun.
Will, named for the “determination to remember the Fukushima disaster,” is one of those dogs. He is estimated to be fairly old for a dog--around 10 years old--but is adept at using his puppy-dog eyes. He has proven the most popular out of three with the children, who feel at ease stroking and hugging him.
In August 2011, five months after the 3/11 disaster, Will was rescued while found wandering around Shinchi, a coastal town of Fukushima Prefecture, wearing a leather collar with a cowbell around his neck.Yoshida visited the prefectural animal rescue operation kennel in Fukushima city and was impressed when he saw Will quietly gazing into the distance.
Following checkups for radioactive contamination, Will was taken to St. Margaret’s that December.
Bless is another stray dog from Fukushima Prefecture at the school. In April 2012 she was also rescued in Shinchi, and joined other school dogs the following month. She is a German pointer crossbred thought to be in her middle age.
In April 2013, Will was struck down with quadriplegia and lost his ability to walk. Yoshida could not justify huge vet bills when so many tsunami victims needed assistance, and considered the option of having him put down.
This upset the children, and they persuaded him, along with their parents who provided financial help to save the animal.
Will underwent major surgery and a period of rehabilitation. He returned to the school in September 2013.
The fact that the dogs are from Fukushima Prefecture brings the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima nuclear accident closer to home for the children, and helps develop their empathy toward those living in the affected areas.
Since the disaster, Yoshida has also been taking Will and other dogs on special visits to an affiliated kindergarten in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture.
Five years on, and against the odds, Will and Bless are still here, enabling active exchanges between the elementary and kindergarten schools in two distant cities.