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C. C. Cedras author, Fergus, Kids Reading, Puppies, READ Program, reading, volunteering
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Credit: Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle. Seven year old Alec Gauthier makes sure that Willow, a St. Bernard, is listening to every word. PAWS to Read program at the Pleasanton, CA Public Library.
I’ve written about this before.
Almost a year ago, I mentioned that Fergus and I would be volunteering at one of the local elementary schools in the reading program devised for children who need a safe, non-judgmental environment in which to practice reading. They read to a dog who’s just happy to be with them. Well, it didn’t work out for the Spring 2017 semester, but we’re going to our orientation on September 29 and our first session is the following Friday, October 6!
Image courtesy of http://bit.ly/2onaMlF, found on Bookstr.com
I’m excited. Fergus will be too when he gets to orientation and gets to hang out with other dogs. I think I’d better take him on a long hike before we go to wear him out a little bit …
Fergus is a mellow dude
Our local program is based upon the READ (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) program, but spun off a few years ago when READ started requiring certification of the dogs. Our little group calls itself, DAWGS. I’ve been trying to find out what that stands for, to no avail. If I get an answer, I’ll come back and update this post. READ, though, is an international program established in such countries as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, France, Sweden, South Africa, Slovenia, Spain, Netherlands, Norway and others. It’s nothing fancy, children read to dogs. How sweet is that?
Sasha Mix, 8, of Batavia, IL reads to Bozeman, 5, owned by Gail Banning of Aurora, IL at Batavia Public Library’s Paws for Tales reading program.
Christian Agama, 7, left, of Placentia, CA reads aloud to Toby, a therapy dog with Therapy Dogs International at Placentia Library’s Read to the Dogs program.
Maybe some of you have participated in these kinds of programs? We have a lot of friends in some of the countries I mentioned – please let us know how successful they’ve been where you live (if you know). I’m curious!
C C Cedras
K R Brorman
S A Young
5 Comments
September 21, 2017 at 1:20 pm
What a sweet program. I’d live to get Nitschke involved but he is far to playful to sit that long. Granted he is only 4 months old 😁
September 21, 2017 at 2:46 pm
Yes, at 4 months Fergus would have been to eager to play to sit still for a couple of hours … Nitschke will get there! Let me know if you get involved in something like that some day.
September 21, 2017 at 3:43 pm
We have the Paws to Read program in Canada and it’s the cutest thing ever. Sometimes when I do my Fox Talk presentation at libraries, one of the canine volunteers helps us do human-animal communication experiments. I always pick the shy kids to be my student volunteers, and they love it. The dogs do too!
September 21, 2017 at 3:45 pm
Such a simple idea that plays to a dog’s strengths! Win-win-win