Earlier this week, I was asked to give a talk to the Providence County Kennel Club about Therapy Dogs who are reading dogs. I thought it also might make a great blog post too. I think when most people think about therapy dogs, they automatically go to those dogs who visit the hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. My first rottweiler was a certified therapy dog with Therapy Dogs International and he and I did visit an assisted living home every week. When he passed, I missed sharing my dogs with people in that way. So, when it looked like Lars would have what it takes to be a therapy dog, I went and had him tested in 2010.
Why I chose to
specialize in this "branch" of the Therapy dog program is Lars
adores children. He connects with them and will give them his undivided
attention, which is a great quality for a Tail Waggin' Tutor. Being a reading dog runs in Lars' family! His full sister who lives in Texas visits children in the schools there. Lars and I visit the local public library here in Warwick, Rhode Island. Our scheduled visits were weekly during summer break and during Christmas and
Spring vacation. During those breaks was when there was the most interest in reading with Lars. Unfortunately, we took this summer off because Lars was
rehabbing from a shoulder injury and was on strict crate rest for most of the
summer.
Tail Waggin' Tutors is the official name for the therapy dogs who visit schools and libraries for Therapy Dogs International. The
premise behind the Tail Waggin' Tutors is to give children an listener who will
not judge them on their reading skills. Dogs won't laugh at or make fun of a child who struggles with a
word, or stutters. The dogs lay
next to the child and offer quiet and attentive support as the child practices
their reading skills. Children will start to associate working on their reading
skills as a positive experience instead
of an experience that will create anxiety of having to be perfect for the listeners. As the children
spend more time reading, their ability and confidence can
improve which will make them enjoy
reading even more. One additional
benefit is that interacting with a certified therapy/reading dog, children who
are uncomfortable or fearful of dogs can have positive associations with these
dogs can better understand dogs.
The Tail Waggin'
Tutor program isn't only meant for children with reading difficulties. Children
who just enjoy reading have read to Lars just because they love dogs or they
wish they could have a dog but can't for whatever reason. Lars did have many "regulars"
who could come every week or every other week to practice their reading skills.
We even had a couple of "pre-readers" who just wanted to share their
picture story books with Lars by showing him the artwork in the books like
"Good Dog Carl."
(That is one thing
to expect when working with your dog as a Tail Waggin' Tutor, you and your dog
will listen to every dog related book in the Library. The most popular series
was one called Harry and Mudge where the main characters were a young boy and
his English Mastiff named Mudge who weighed in at 182. Since Lars is a big dog
himself, the readers all felt that Lars should listen to the adventures of a
fellow big dog.)
How a reading dog
session would work was we would arrive to the library for time block for a little
more than an hour. The children would sign up for 15 minutes of time during the
week. The Warwick
Library had us visit in a room off of the children's section for 1) privacy for
the readers so they could practice reading to Lars without other children they
didn't know present. 2) The time blocked could be respected and managed. The children had
the option to sit in a chair and read a book to Lars or they could sit on the
floor and read to him. Most chose to read in the chair and have Lars on the
floor. Sometimes siblings, other relatives, or friends would come and share
time blocks. The Parents were
welcome to stay with their children when they read. Some stayed, some would
leave the room and watch their other children in the library. Sometimes if the child had time left over, they could chose a short book or didn't want
to keep reading, we would talk about Lars and other things he did outside of
the library. Or, I would make him do some tricks, or they could sit , pet Lars
and talk with him.
Reading to
children was a rewarding to Lars as it was to me. I would say "Are we
going to go to the library?" and he would get really excited about his
"job". He would come into the library and make a direct path to the
upstairs where the children's section is. Lars would make an effort to connect
with the children the first couple of minutes of meeting them. He would kiss
them and greet them in his own way. The first couple of minutes, both Lars and
the kids would be all excited and then they would settle into reading time.
Lars would do that with each new reader or group of readers who came in. I enjoyed seeing the regular kids on weekly or
bi-weekly visits. It was really neat to see some kids who had confidence issues
find their voices over the summer and go from reading in a small meek voice to
reading out loud with enthusiasm. Some children who did have some significant
issues with reading did read to us and it really made me grateful I could share
my dog with them and give them a "safe and judgement free"
environment to practice and try to improve their reading.
I'm hoping to get back to the reading dog visits with Lars this Christmas break. If you are looking for a career with your therapy dog, really consider doing the Tail Waggin' Tutor program if you are with TDI. Pet Partners (formally known as Delta) also has a reading dog program for their volunteers. If you need more information about pursuing therapy dog work, you can visit - Therapy Dogs International
