MONMOUTH – Leo is a consummate professional. In the show ring he’s the perfect model: smooth, poised, elegant. In the field he’s a hunter: sharp, earnest, eager.

But in Abbie Frost’s first-grade classroom at Cottrell School he’s a little more, well, doggy.

He rolls over a lot and begs for belly rubs.

“He’s such a ham for kids,” said Frost as a half-dozen 6- and 7-year-olds giggled and scratched his stomach.

Kristine Gustavson, a provider of psychological services for Monmouth schools and SAD 16, got Leo more than four years ago. She owned and showed flat-coated retrievers, but her most beloved retriever had died and she couldn’t bear to get another dog in the same breed. She considered poodles, curly-coated retrievers and Irish water spaniels.

Gustavson found Irish Mist Obleo O’Skyelark – aka Leo – with a breeder at a gathering for Irish water spaniel enthusiasts. He was 16 weeks old, and he looked at her with a mixture of love and insistence.

“He told me he was mine,” she said.

Gustavson’s plan was to keep Leo busy as a show dog, a bird dog, a swimmer, a therapy dog and an assistant dog. With his show-perfect chocolate curls, easy-going nature and intelligence, he proved good at all of them.

By 17 months, Leo had earned his championship title in the show ring. Earlier this month he competed in the nationally televised AKC/Eukanuba National Championship, where he just missed Best of Breed, but won the Judge’s Award of Merit.

By the age of 2 he was participating in bird dog hunt tests and had completed training as both a therapy and assistant dog. Gustavson began bringing him to the Cottrell School about once a week. He was as calm and poised with small children as he was with show judges.

But he also knew when to cut loose a little.

“He’s rather like a 6-year-old. He takes the opportunity to show off whenever he gets the chance,” said Frost, as Leo held up a furry paw to meet a little boy’s high five.

When he’s at the school, Leo spends his day helping teach first- and second-graders how to safely approach dogs and how to care for pets. He visits other classrooms to reward students for good behavior.

Although Leo bounces from one job to the next, going from the show ring to the field to training, his classroom work is Gustavson’s favorite. And, she thinks, it’s one of his favorites, too.

“I think that’s where he has the most effect on making people’s lives happier,” she said.