[judgeandjury]

A dog in class is going to be a HUGE distraction to a class of 7 year olds, and that needs to be dealt with.

A dog in class would probably be a bit of a distraction on the first day. But after the teacher explains to the students why the dog is there, and that the dog is a working dog and shouldn't be petted or bothered in any way by the students, then the students will pay less attention to the dog and focus on their teacher instead.

[freeeee]

A dog in class would probably be a bit of a distraction on the first day.

We had a diabetic girl in my elementary school class. She ate a snack in class, in front of all the other kids every single day.

The first day we asked about it. The rest of the year we didn't care.

And she didn't have to see a shrink either!

[SoCal Pubbie]

I would be surprised if in short order the dog did not get "adopted" as a class mascot and just be considered one of the students. In fact, that's exactly what I would tell the students if I were the teacher. Everyone has a job to do, the teacher to teach and help the students, the students to work hard and learn, and the dog to help the little girl. I would issue report cards to the dog just like the kids, grading the pooch on citizenship and so forth depending on how he behaved!