Dogs are roaming the halls of Garland schools. But that suits administrators just fine – these are far from your ordinary mutts.

Leo hangs out in a second-grade classroom at Carver Elementary School. Moses has his own little picket-fenced yard in the Naaman Forest High School library.

Another dog named Moses hangs out at Beaver Technology Center for Math and Science. And Sister regularly makes the rounds at the 13 middle schools.

The dogs are among those in the district being trained as service dogs to help the vision-impaired or others. Being with people is part of their socialization before they are returned to certified service dog agencies. And they help the schools.

"It's a calming effect for sure," said Leslie Cechan, who is training Moses at Naaman Forest. "When the teachers get a little stressed out they go to the library and pet Moses."

At Carver, the kids read to Leo.

"If he gets bored, he snores," teacher Laura Ledbetter said. So students work to read quickly and brightly to keep him awake. Shy kids who won't read to her will read to Leo, Ledbetter said.

Judy Murray, a physical education teacher at Beaver, said her dog Moses helps stop trouble before it starts.

Recently, a kindergartener wasn't happy when it was time to wait outside after school.

"He had his arms crossed and what I call a dark look," Murray said. "You could tell he wasn't going to do what he was being asked to do.

"I went over and asked if he'd like to help with Moses."

He helped walk the dog for a few minutes and went back to the routine "with smiles ready to do what he was asked to do," Murray said.

Service dogs in-training have been in the Garland schools for more than a decade. It's not clear how many there are, since the dogs are approved by individual supervisors. Cechan said she has had a dog at Naaman Forest since the school opened in 1988.

The staff members pick up the dogs as puppies and keep them about a year. During that time the dogs learn basic obedience commands, such as sit, stay and down, as well as how to be around people. It's crucial that the dogs get as much experience with people as possible, the trainers said.

"Training is not nearly as important as socialization," said Hedwig Pettinger, a district technology specialist. She's training her 11th dog and takes Sister, a 5-month-old golden retriever, with her as she visits the district's 13 middle schools.

She and the other trainers said schools are great places to train the dogs because there are so many different situations.

"There are crowds, there are bells, there are steps, there are elevators," Cechan said. Moses even goes to pep rallies.

The trainers are volunteers who take on the dogs from certified service dog agencies. Ledbetter, Cechan and Murray work with Southeastern Guide Dogs, headquartered in Palmetto, Fla. Pettinger works with Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown, N.Y.

Ledbetter has had a dog in her classroom since Carver opened in 2007, and there has never been a problem, Principal Jennifer Porter said.

"I've had parents call and ask for their child to be in the class with the dog," she said.

She said she checks to make sure that none of the children in the class is allergic to dogs. Students in the class said they weren't afraid of dogs. Two said they used to be scared but aren't anymore because of Leo.

The dogs only have beginning training with the teachers. The guide-dog associations provide their advanced lessons. Some are then placed as guide dogs for the visually impaired. Others who don't seem suited to the work become therapy or companion dogs.

The trainers said they get attached to the dogs but understand why it's important to let them go.

Pettinger said she has become friends with some of the clients who eventually get the trained dogs. She said they are "related by dog."

"You cry a lot the day you give them up," Pettinger said, "but you cry a lot more the day you meet the people they are going to."

Several staff members in the Garland school district are volunteering to provide early training for service dogs. They keep the puppies with them in schools and other district buildings.

$38,000 to $60,000 – Cost of training a dog

1,400 – Number of dogs in service trained by Southeastern Guide Dogs, a certified agency that several staff members work with

6 to 8 – Number of years a service dog normally works

2 ½ – Average age when a service dog begins working

0 – Cost to visually impaired person to obtain a dog

SOURCE: Southeastern Guide Dogs and Guide Dogs of America