Puppy Teaches Students About Life and Loss - KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, Sports

Puppy Teaches Students About Life and Loss

A teacher at St. Mary's in Cheyenne is using her puppy to teach her students a rare lesson on life and loss.

Beau is a five-month-old Golden Retriever. For the past few months, Karen Robblee has been taking him to school to teach her first graders about his growth and development.

But her lesson plans have changed because Beau has Epiphyseal Dysplasia, a rare degenerative bone disease.

"The cartilage isn't there so they just get bone on bone contact on those joints and it's like an older person that has arthritis" explains Dr. Lisa Geesey, Tri State Vet Clinic.

Robblee says Beau will have to be put down within the next month to six weeks. "Right now we have him on pain medication and he's still having fun as a puppy... We're enjoying him, every minute we have" she says.

Her first graders don't know how limited the minutes are. Robblee still has to tell them.

"We need to teach about real life and what happens. This was an opportunity for me to teach something not all children would be able to see" she says.