Dalmatian Visitors Unleash Enthusiasm in the Classroom

Teacher Holly Dye’s fourth-grade class at Pinecrest School went barking mad recently.

The 9-year-olds weren’t possessed by left-over Halloween demons, but creatures of another ilk.

The cause of the uproar was a visit by two Dalmatians, brought by a member of the Burbank Kennel Club to the Northridge campus for purposes of instruction, as well as a bit of show and tell.

The visitation was the second in two years arranged by Dye, who reached into her own pocket to purchase the Pets & Me program from the University of Pennsylvania last year.

“When I read about the program in an educational magazine, I thought I might enrich our fourth-grade social studies instruction by using some of the program’s suggested activities,” she said.

The program is a 300-page teachers guide containing numerous activities with animal themes to spark student interest in a variety of ordinary classroom subjects.

If students are studying art, for example, they might draw pictures of animals. If they’re working on writing, they might write a story about their pets.

Dye sent off to the university’s graduate school of education for the printed program, and, with help from the Burbank Kennel Club, tried out part of the program last spring.

“Before the dogs came to the school this time, we had discussions about pets and the obligations that come with having them,” Dye says.

“The children painted pictures of animal homes and the animals that would go in them. They got to write papers about how they would deal with certain situations involving pets.”

On D-Day (D=Dog), Gwertz first wowed the children by showing them a video about dogs that help handicapped people. One scene depicted how a dog--leading a blind man--saved him from falling into an open manhole.

Then the enthusiastic children were led out to the playing field and told to sit in a straight line.

Mac and Spreckles were about to steal the show.

“Leslie Selfridge, who is the dogs’ owner and handler, had put them in cages in the shade to await the children coming out,” Dye says.

Once the youngsters were seated, the 18-month-old male dog, Mac, walked down the line receiving the children’s expressions of delight and hugs with equanimity and the occasional face lick.

Mac may be known in local canine circles as a dog on his way up in American Kennel Club competitions, but he could be a politician the way he works a crowd.

The children watched as Mac and Sprecklesshowed they could understand and obey verbal commands to do such things as jump over barriers and identify and retrieve objects.

The children applauded as if the dynamic duo were the Puppy Power Rangers.

Hard-nosed types might want to know how much Dye figures the kids learned while enjoying themselves.

Quite a lot, she thinks.

“One of the things I did with the children was ask them to think what they would do in certain situations,” Dye says, adding that their cognitive reasoning skills, sense of responsibility, as well as writing ability, were brought into play with this exercise.

For example, when Sara Abrams was asked what she would do if her parents made her give up a dog because someone in the family was allergic to it, she answered that she would be sad, but that she would find it another home where it would be loved and happy.

Ashley Gazzaniga was asked what she would do if, after having nursed a wounded owl back to health, she was told she had to give the bird to a government agent or licensed bird sanctuary. She answered that even if she didn’t want to, she would turn the bird over to the proper authorities so it could lead a healthy life.

Mary Sciortino didn’t have to think long about her response when asked what she would do if a friend came to her house and wanted to dress up the cat as if it were a stuffed animal. This “friend,” according to the scenario, was very popular and might not come back if she couldn’t have her way.

Mary, a 9-year-old with a healthy attitude, responded with the kind of common sense that would give most parents cause for celebration.

“Who,” she asked, “would want a friend like that?”

Thrift Store Staff to Honor Man Who Called Fire Department

The man who saved the American Cancer Society’s Northridge thrift shop has been found and volunteers are planning a dinner in his honor.

That’s the end of the story that began like this:

A couple of weeks ago Jill Angel, the store manager, came to work to find that a fire had started and been extinguished during the night.

Firefighters told her the whole shop, and possibly the shopping center would have burned down if an unidentified man hadn’t alerted the Fire Department around midnight.

Angel and her staff put a sign in the window asking their “angel” to stop in and identify himself. The request was repeated in last week’s Chronicle column.

Last Wednesday, Dieter Balogh of Woodland Hills walked into the shop and said, “I guess I’m the man you are looking for.” He said friends had seen the sign in the window and others had called to tell him his deed had been written about in the paper.

He seemed perplexed by all the attention, Angel said.

“He said he was standing outside talking to a friend after having dinner at Truly Yours, the restaurant next door, when he saw a flash in our window.”

“They went to investigate and saw a spark from one of the lights in the window fall to the floor and burst into flame,” Angel said.

Balogh couldn’t get his car phone to work, so he went to a phone booth to call the Fire Department. His friend, John Merrill, a former Valley resident who was visiting from Ohio, took off on foot to the fire station a few blocks away.

They waited until two fire units arrived and then left.

Balogh thought that was the end of it. He says he couldn’t believe anyone would go to so much trouble to thank him. He did what anyone would have done, he said.

Angel said she and about 70 volunteers are arranging a dinner at the shop in his honor.

“He doesn’t think he did much, but all the rest of us do.”

Overheard

“I’m going to write in Charles Keating for both governor and senator. Just being pragmatic. We already know what he is. He doesn’t have to get elected to prove it to us.”

Man in Toluca Lake talking election strategies on the phone with friend in Calabasas.