Read to the Dogs! -- Sue Kinzie

Children and dogs! They just go together. However, did you know that a dog could help a child to read? It happens in schools and libraries throughout the country.

Children that have difficulty reading are hesitant to read aloud in the classroom. They are shy or are afraid of ridicule from their classmates. This prompted development of a program which uses therapy dogs. Dogs do not judge. They do not ridicule or turn their backs. Dogs sit calmly and quietly for a story. Children can practice reading aloud without fear. It's a great way for children to gain confidence in their reading skills.

Once a month in many of Albuquerque's libraries registered therapy dogs gather to listen to children as they read. This was one of those days:

I arrived with my therapy dog, Cody to join four other handlers with their dogs. The library supplies a large area so that we have room to spread out. That is important for a Great Pyrenees who weighs over one hundred and forty pounds!

So each dog has their own space, enough to lay down and for a child to sit beside them. The children choose a book to read. If the child is too young to read, they choose a picture book to show the dog.

Each child also gets a bookmark. Once they finish reading their book to a dog, they get a sticker of the dog which is placed on their bookmark. A bookmark has room for ten stickers and once it is full, the child gets to pick a prize. This day the children got stickers which featured Cody, Rufus the chihuahua, Annie the Cairn Terrier, Star the Golden Retriever, and an Australian Shepard named Zosia.

Parents bring their children and wait patiently as the child chooses their book and makes their stop to read to each dog. Two hours later each dog had heard stories of magical fairies, talking turtles, and helpful ghosts among many others. Each child went home proudly displaying their bookmarks with the pictures of five special dogs!

{End}. .