South Bend, Ind. (WSBT) — When students at Madison STEAM Academy in South Bend get their yearbooks, there will be four dogs pictured in amongst the children.

That is because every day, 615 students attend class at the downtown elementary school and so do four therapy dogs.

One of those dogs is Millie.

Millie is around three years old. She loves kids. She loves treats. She loves naps.

“I stepped up to be her foster mom and she never left my house,” says Erin Moretti, a Title I intervention specialist.

Millie is now Moretti's dog.

Moretti rescued Millie, who was part of a transport of dogs from the south about a year ago.

She says Millie’s laid back and calm personality is making a difference at Madison.

Maybe she had some trauma, and she can connect with these kids on a different level because I feel she does have that sense about her that when the kids are upset, she goes over and she is just very calm and she lays next to them and sits next to them and just allows them to get all of their anger or frustration of sadness out,” says Moretti.

Millie makes her way around the school every day helping where she is needed.

On the day WSBT visited, Millie found a boy in the hallway crying and within a couple seconds of petting Millie, the boy was calm.

Some days, Millie’s job is just to be there.

When students at Madison STEAM Academy in South Bend get their yearbooks, there will be four dogs pictured in amongst the children. That is because every day, 615 students attend class at the downtown elementary school and so do four therapy dogs. (WSBT)

“I just really want to pet them. Every dog I see I really want to pet them,” says Makhai Willis, a fourth-grade student at Madison.

Willis has earned the responsibility of walking Millie.

“It is cool to have a dog in your school and they just walk around. You can pet them anytime you want to,” says Willis.

“She loves going to our life skills class and the kids love her there,” says Moretti.

Millie spends most of her time visiting all the children, filling up on treats and playing with her doggy friends.

Moretti says Millie's best friend is a large chocolate lab named Truly.

They often play together during breaks in the school day.

Meanwhile, Golden Retriever Ginger is busy in her classroom. Like all 3rd graders, the students are learning reading and math but when they gather around the carpet for a story, Ginger goes too.

When students at Madison STEAM Academy in South Bend get their yearbooks, there will be four dogs pictured in amongst the children. That is because every day, 615 students attend class at the downtown elementary school and so do four therapy dogs. (WSBT)

There is also Hercules who works everyday inside a 4th grade classroom.

“The benefits? I mean, where do you start,” says Madison STEAM Academy principal, Amanda Choinacky.

Therapy dogs have been a part of this school for several years.

Choinacky says they spend time reading with kids, help calm nerves between tests and provide comfort during tough moments.

School leaders say the impact is immense but immeasurable.

So, just whether there is a moment for a kid who is having a hard time and is not available to learn at the moment. Millie, Ginger, Truly and Hercules will just step right in, and it just melts them. Honestly, I think they do more than some of us educators can in that moment. The kiddos recover a lot quicker,” says Choinacky.

Millie and her friends are not class pets, they are classmates.

They are not just therapy dogs, they are therapeutic.

Teachers and administrators say every tail wag, every hug, and every smile, is proof of that.