Saturday, February 10, 2007
Reading Has Gone to the Dogs
Our PALS (Pets and Love Shared) program has been sending animal assisted therapy (AAT) teams to different skilled nursing facilities throughout Alameda County for about 3 years. Many of our volunteers with PALS were wanting to also do some work with kids, and Lin from the Orinda Library recently invited some of our teams to join in their Paws to Read program.
In this program kids sign up in advance at the library to come and read aloud to a dog. Maybe because dogs can't read, maybe because dogs don't judge them. Whatever the reason these programs have been shown to help children increase in both reading skill and confidence.
It is a big hit and we are looking forward to developing a program like this with some other local libraries. We are also going to be offering a 4 week class for folks already doing AAT with their dogs to prepare for and learn more about the programs like the one in Orinda.
Pictured are Susan andRosa with a young lady who is reading a lovely picture book. Rosa seems to be pretty relaxed and loving it! See our webpage dog training site for more information about PALS and the "Books Have Gone to the Dogs" class.
