Lukas Edward Henry Brings Joy to The Episcopal School of Dallas
Written by Niki Gummadi for Advocate Preston Hollow on September 5, 2025.
Lukas Edward Henry may be the most popular staff member at The Episcopal School of Dallas. He can often be found walking around campus, donning his ESD staff badge and Campbell plaid, matching the students in their uniforms. He may wear a staff badge, but he’s not a teacher or an administrator.
He’s a Bernese Mountain Dog.
Last month, Lukas started his second full school year as ESD’s certified therapy dog. He lives on campus with his owner, head of security Jody Trumble, who trained Lukas for his therapy dog certification. Trumble says she has always been a fan of how dog therapy “can help calm the soul.”
The decision to train a therapy dog herself came shortly after the ESD community lost a student and teacher in the same weekend in 2023. In the days that followed, Trumble reached out to a friend at Heart of Texas Therapy Dogs and arranged for several therapy dogs to visit campus with their handlers.
“The kids, they needed it,” she says. “It was really great to see how that helped them through the grieving process.”
After researching different breeds, Trumble traveled to Tulsa to get her new trainee. She originally had a different puppy picked out, but when she arrived, Lukas came over and laid between her feet. She took him home and began his year of training.
To get certified by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, Lukas had to wait until he turned 1 year old and passed a vet check before he could start his skills tests. These supervised tests happened at busy places like Home Depot and Lowe’s, which provided distracting stimuli that Lukas had to ignore. After completing his final two skills tests at medical facilities, Lukas was officially certified.
In addition to his training, Lukas seems to have a natural inclination to his job as a therapy dog.
“He gets it. I don’t know how to describe it, really, but if a kid’s having a bad day, he knows. And his reaction is different based on how the kid responds to him,” she says.
Since his arrival on campus, Lukas has developed a “cult following.” Trumble says when she does work in the study commons, older students will often settle on the floor next to her and play with Lukas. In the afternoons, she will stand in the hallways with Lukas while students give him what she calls “drive-by pets” on their way to lunch.
“When I walk out into the playground area or anywhere where the kids are at, there’s just a chorus of his name,” Trumble says.
He has his own calendar, which staff can use to request his presence in their classroom or special events. Lukas helps students with academic services, like keeping students company during testing. Lower School students often read to him, especially those who are too shy or have difficulty with reading out loud.
“He really increases their confidence because everybody wants to read to Lukas … He’s pretty non-judgmental,” Trumble says.
When he’s not on the job, Lukas can be found walking around campus with Trumble, often attending school events like football games.
The school’s director of wellness Cara Holmes says she has noticed a difference in the school community since Lukas joined.
“I just think he brings a shared sense of joy for all people on campus, students, parents, faculty and staff,” she says. “Because he lives on campus, I feel like his presence is always felt, whether he’s actually here that day or not.”
According to Trumble, the response to Lukas has been entirely positive since he was first introduced to the parents board last year.
“Not everyone is a dog person, so I kind of thought, well, someone will probably say that they’re concerned. And we’ve not had any of that. I mean, it’s been so overwhelmingly positive,” she says.
According to Holmes, central to the school’s identity is caring for the whole student, which includes emotional wellness. She says having Lukas around has helped students embrace this philosophy.
“I think it’s been a great model of empathy and care especially for our younger students,” she says. “How do you approach another living being? How do you care for them? How do you show them kindness and compassion and acceptance? And he does a beautiful job at that.”
Lukas has also helped Trumble in her role as head of security. She says that her goal is that every person on campus knows who she is, so they can recognize her as a trusted figure in case of an emergency.
“To have that trust and rapport that I’m not going to ask you to do something or lead you somewhere that’s going to be bad. Sometimes that concept for little littles is hard to understand or scary,” she says. “And so he serves a purpose on that, too. Everyone knows who I am because I’m with Lukas.”
Lukas has become an easily recognized figure among the ESD community. The Eagle’s Nest, ESD’s on-campus school store, sells T-shirts featuring Lukas’ face alongside stuffed animals bearing his likeness. This celebrity status is in no small part due to his natural ability to connect with those around him.
Holmes says, “Despite his size, he is the gentle embodiment of kindness and unconditional acceptance. He has the perfect temperament.”
