Published on Show Me Mizzou Dec. 17, 2025
At the University of Missouri’s College of Health Sciences, one of the most effective members of the teaching team doesn’t use words at all. Kelce, a 3-year-old golden retriever, joined the Combs Language Preschool in Clark Hall at the beginning of 2025 as a trained facility dog through Retrieving Freedom, Inc. Named after Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, she works alongside faculty and graduate students in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences to help children find their voices — sometimes literally.
“Kelce has become an essential presence in our classroom,” says Christy Baker, associate clinical professor and director of the preschool. “She brings a calmness that helps our little friends refocus when they become dysregulated. And she motivates them to communicate when they might otherwise stay quiet.”
The children in the preschool all have communication delays or disorders, but Kelce connects with them in unexpected ways. “She seems to have her own special language with many of them,” Baker says. “She’ll make eye contact, nudge them gently, and they’ll start engaging in ways they hadn’t before.”
Part therapy dog, part classmate, Kelce has become a golden thread in Mizzou’s language-learning community, bridging comfort, focus and communication one wag at a time.
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