ALAMO HEIGHTS, Texas – The Alamo Heights Independent School District welcomed a new member to its community when classes resumed: Scout, the district’s first therapy dog.
Scout was donated to the district through the Kellyanne Elizabeth Lytal Memorial Foundation, honoring the 8-year-old AHISD student who died in the 2025 flood at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas.
Scout serves at Alamo Heights Junior School with counselor Lisa Taggart, his handler. Together, they work with students experiencing anxiety or stress.
“Scout and I are a team. We come together to work every day. We counsel as a team,” Taggart said.
Taggart said Scout can help students feel more comfortable opening up during counseling.
“Scout and dogs in general just really help lower those barriers that people might bring into counseling or therapy,” she said.
Kellyanne Lytal’s Girl Scout Troop 5116 helped make Scout’s role possible.
The troop donated $500 from cookie sales to the foundation honoring their friend’s legacy.
At Kellyanne Park in Alamo Heights, troop members met Scout, who is named after their tight-knit group.
“Kellyanne wanted a dog so bad,” Kellyanne’s mother, Malorie Lytal, said. “I feel like this is a way that I can get her a dog from heaven and have it with the purpose behind her foundation — with Scout spreading kindness.”
Taggart and Scout spent 100 hours training together and are now prepared to help students manage difficult emotions.
The Girl Scouts said Scout will continue Kellyanne’s legacy by loving and helping others.
“He’s just going to love people all the way,” one troop member said.
Another added, “I think he’s going to help people a lot.”
“There are just so many ways we can spread kindness and honor her memory,” Malorie Lytal said.
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