The WOW Program "If Dogs Come to Tate Uji" was held on Saturday, February 18.
This program was planned by Hitomi Sasaki, a first-year junior high school student, who thought, "If there were dogs at school, every day would be more fun! "
On the day of the event, we welcomed Mr. Junichi Aoki, representative of "Social Animal Bond," which promotes "animal-assisted education," and his school dogs, Sue and Aslan, for an exchange. Mr. Aoki says that dogs have taught him a lot. He talked about the unconventional way of education that he thought about through his experience of actually having dogs at school. The program began with a workshop on "How can we make the school more exciting? The program started with such a workshop, and the students had a great time interacting with the two dogs, smiling throughout the entire time.

"The dogs have lifted my spirits so much. I have nothing but gratitude."
"I realized how much fun it was to see the dogs."
"It healed me and was a lot of fun! I wish I could have a dog at Ritsumeikan Uji too!"
"Aslan and Sue were both so cute, I could just imagine a school with dogs in it."

Hitomi Sasaki, who organized this WOW program, said, "I wanted people to come to love dogs more by spending time with them. I would be happy if people could learn that dogs, when properly trained, can help people by doing things that people cannot do."