Read, Spot, Read!

In 1999 a program called Reading Education Assistance Dogs or R.E.A.D. was started by Intermountain Therapy Animals of Salt Lake City. The program uses specially trained therapy animals to help kids with their reading skills. It works like this: The program matches a struggling reader with a dog and his trainer. Then each week the child reads what they have been practing to the dog for 15-20 minutes. The dogs just listen and the trainer is there to reassure the child and their parent and they are trained to help children, but mainly they stay silent and allow the child to interact with the dog. The dog must be able to sit quietly for long periods and accept a stranger's touch, he must also be able to stay calm in environments with unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells.

Since it's inception the program has grown to over 2,000 teams of volunteers in 49 U.S. states, Canada and Europe. You can learn more by visiting http://therapyanimals.org. The program has different names in different locations, Reading to Rover, Dog Day Afternoons, Caring Canines Inc., and Paws to Read are just a few of the programs found in libraries, elementary schools and day care centers.

Trisha Clifford, the national R.E.A.D. coordinator, says "It is a novelty, but it works. It's a fun way to make reading more enjoyable for children."

Even if you don't have a child in need of this service, perhaps you wonder if you dog could participate. Clifford states that a lot of people think that their dog could do this but she says, "It really takes a certain temperment."

I know what she means. I have two dogs and they could not be more different. One is a two year old miniature schunazer named Pancho. He is mellow to the very center of his being, he doesn't bark, and he is happiest just sitting still next to a human and being softly scratched behind his ears. He could easily be trained to have a child sit or lay by him and read.

My other dog is a 9 month old maltese named Chico. He is hyper. He is spaztic. He is the polar opposite of Pancho. My husband thinks the dogs should be renamed, Eeyore and Tigger. Chico, no matter how cute and cuddly would never make a good reading companion, he would lick the book and the reader and wag this tail faster than you could turn the pages. He would jump around and bark and bring you toys to play catch. He would seize every opportunity to distract a reader.

If you have a child who struggles to stay on task and get their reading done maybe you could try this with you own dog. Dogs after all are great noncritical listeners. Don't have a dog? How about a cat? A title for your child to begin with is, Three Stories you can Read to your Dog by Sara Swan Miller. Or try Three Stories you can Read to your Cat by the same author.

Michele, Children's Librarian