Greeting pupils as they come into school is a good way of making them feel welcome and showing mutual respect, so a school in Ohio has decided it needs a member of staff to do it full-time. However, it recruited a dog.

Half labrador, half golden retriever, Glazier works at Maryland Avenue Elementary School in Bexley, greeting children as they arrive for school each morning. Jon Hood, headteacher, says he’s a great role model. “If you tell him to come to the carpet and sit, he does it immediately,” he says.

A spokesman for Canine Companions, who placed the dog at the school, said: “We always talk about the physical tasks that these dogs can do, but there is that side, the emotional side, and it’s always there.”

Glazier’s appointment comes as elementary schools and libraries in North America sign up for initiatives in which anxious young pupils gain confidence by spending time with dogs.