Monday, June 21, 2010

Dexter at the Children's Reading Program

Dexter was an absolute gentleman and stayed on the floor with this cute little girl while she read a book to him for an hour. The Children's Reading Program is designed to help children gain more confidence in reading. Dogs aren't judgemental so it builds confidence when a chi...ld reads out loud to a dog vs a person. Other children were also reading to other dogs in the very large room we were in so it's hard to hear her reading but she did great. The city we were in can be a bit misunderstood on the Pit Bull breed. However, when we left the library the children and the mothers were impressed with Dexter's calm and happy behavior and came up to pet him and mentioned how sweet he was. He was invited back to be a permanent reader at the library. My hope is that more and more people will see that these dogs are born for this work. This program is really wonderful for kids. It's so nice to see kids reading, building confidence and getting connected to dogs. It's great to help the dogs and children at the same time!

6 comments:

  1. Isn't it great? I was thinking while there how wonderful it would be to have more of these programs for the kids.

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  2. My foster would be PERFECT for this (As well as CGC and therapy once he has some training done.)

    For the reading program: do the dogs need a certification? Like CGC or therapy?

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  3. They need to pass their criteria even if they have CGC or therapy certs. At the minimum he should have CGC and best to have a therapy cert.
    Here's a great place to start http://www.therapydogs.com

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  4. Thank you so much! I just got him a few days ago and it seems he's lived his life outdoors (he's approx 1 year old) since Thursday he's already become 100% comfortable in my home except the kitchen, the shiny floors still get to him here and there. He has no training, but now that's he's settled in training has begun! He has that perfect "go with the flow" temperament, low energy pittie boy. Which I believe, once he has some obedience, he'll be THE PERFECT breed ambassador with his CGC, therapy, and maybe even part of a reading group!

    TY TY TY ♥

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