St Joseph’s School, Waroona, celebrates school wellness dog Monty’s first birthday

Students at St Joseph’s School in Waroona celebrated the first birthday of a very special puppy last week — school wellness dog Monty. The school said Monty had an “awesome” birthday last Wednesday as he was showered with gifts and given a “steak cake”. Monty was rescued by Mandurah-based non-profit No Pup Cleft Behind which rescues puppies with cleft pallets, and later adopted by St Joseph’s School Year 5 teacher Melissa Fuller who has brought him in as the school wellness dog ever since. No Pup Cleft Behind founder Kellie De Rosa said puppies like Monty could have a real impact on children’s lives. “Monty’s working basically like a therapy dog I would call it,” Ms De Rosa said. “The kids read to him, it helps relax them, I think it helps some of the kids with learning disabilities as well.” Ms De Rosa brought two puppies who are in the care of the No Pup Cleft Behind to the school on Friday and spoke to the kids about the work they did. The small non-profit start-up was founded by Ms De Rosa, who is a veterinary nurse, and Leesa Kingi in 2019 after Ms De Rosa saw many “cleft pallet pups” euthanised and decided they could make a difference. The organisation’s website states most vets and breeders tell owners to euthanise cleft pallet pups at birth because of how much dedication, time and money is required to raise them. Rescued puppies are tube-fed every two hours until they are six weeks old as they can’t eat solids, and are taught to drink water through a rabbit water-dropper bottle. After six weeks, the puppies have surgery — which is similar to a skin graft — and the non-profit’s website stated they go on to have “totally happy, normal and long lives”. Well over 50 dogs have been adopted from the organisation and Ms De Rosa said seeing puppies who would have previously been euthanised being adopted was an incredible feeling. “It is very rewarding to see them in happy homes being absolutely normal dogs,” she said. “They have some restrictions but otherwise they live a completely normal life. “To go from having no chance of life to dogs like Monty who is now a school therapy dog is a pretty good outcome.”