Sobie, an 8-year-old lab-retriever mix, is something of a celebrity at W.T. White High School. She spends two days a week on campus, garnering fans and working with special needs students.

“[The students] will love on her, pet her and walk her up and down the hallways to get out of the classroom,” says her owner Sgt. Stephen Donelson, a JROTC instructor at the school. “It brings them a sense of accomplishment to walk her.”

Sobie is well suited for the task. She worked as a service dog for the first part of her life, assisting Donelson’s stepson, Zachary, who has cerebral palsy and suffers from seizures. They adopted her through Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), an organization that provides highly trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities. In her prime, Sobie knew 42 commands. Among other things, she could close drawers, open doors, retrieve dropped eyeglasses and turn on and off lights. But Donelson worried she was getting rusty in her retirement, so, last year, he devised a plan.

“I went to the principal,” he explains, “I said, ‘I have a retired service dog. She’s sitting at home getting fat and lazy. You have special needs kids here. Can I bring her in and see what happens?’”

The principal agreed and Sobie quickly became a regular fixture in the Activities of Daily Living and Future Life Skills classes. Donelson describes seeing the children’s eyes light up when she enters the room.

“Some of the kids are in wheelchairs and non-communicative,” he says. “So what she’ll do there is be a companion. I will lay her down beside the kids and they will look at her, reach out, touch her and pet on her.”

Sobie is popular among the staff at W.T. White, too. Shortly before Thanksgiving break, she became ill and could not hold down food. Donelson took her to a regular veterinarian and then to a gastrointestinal specialist, but no one knew what was wrong. His colleagues were frantic. Some of the ladies in the front office even “started a prayer chain for [Sobie].” Everyone was relieved when, after an arduous couple of weeks, she made a full recovery. But perhaps no one was happier than Donelson, who describes Sobie as a family member.

“She’s a great dog,” he says. “What she did for my son, and what she does for these kids — it’s more than opening a door or something like that. She brings them love. She brings them something they might not be getting.”