Tuck Search and Rescue + Therapy Dog

Children Reading to Dogs

September 13th 2009 6:49 pm
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I work in the schools as a "Children's Reading to Dogs " therapy dog.
Children who don't read well, often are nervous and self conscious when reading to dogs. But their inhibitions seem to vanish when they read to a dog.
The Children Reading to Dog's program is a voluntary program where parents enroll their children as an intervention program.

In my program, I do many tricks. If a child finds a story about a dog that does a trick in a book, I perform that trick for them right then, right now.

The trick is, most of the dog trick stories are in the more advanced books, causing children who want to see how many tricks are in my bag, to read ever harder to gain proficiency.

I can read 10 commands from flash cards. I learned how to do this from a book named  "Teaching your dog to Read" and decided that I could demonstrate that a dog could read, children could read as well. 
Each child is allotted a certain level of time. IF that child completes their reading within that time, They are allowed to use up the remainder of their reading time by playing with me.

We may play on the playground
Or we play Hide the Duck, where the child hides a stuffed toy anywhere in a room, in closets, lockers, desks, drawers etc, and I find it with my nose. Just like hide and go seek. If it's there, I will find it. You cannot hide from my nose. I am a Search and Rescue dog as well. So I have a trained nose.

Or we play basketball.
The children also write to me. If they leave a letter in my mail box, they ALWAYS get a letter back! This gives them additional reading/writing incentives.

One child chose to take me tracking. So another child was given mom's car keys, check book, and an envelope with a gift certificate and lose them in a soccer field adjacent to the school. In a couple of hours, my reading child took me out in the field and I showed him how to find all the articles lost with my nose.

One child was assigned, not because he couldn't read, but instead, because he couldn't talk. He had what is known as selective mutism. He learned to relate to me through hand signals. This was immense progress, because he would not use hand signals even with his friends.


In their struggles to read, the children felt motivated to teach me to read as well. I can read 10 words on flash cards and perform the command as read. If I can learn to read, so can they!

Some children went from not being able to read, and jumped 4 grade levels within a school year. Their parents reported that once their children entered my reading program, they became obsessed with being able to read better, and involved their families in finding books to read to me the following week. Many parents said their kids can read BECAUSE of me.

As an addition to reading to me, the children also write letters to me and leave them in my mail box. The first thing I do when I arrive in the classroom is run to check my mail. I return a letter for every letter written, giving additional reading/writing practice for the children. It's FUN TOO!

I love my paw pal mail.


Because I am an ambassador, I also put on educational speeches on responsible dog ownership, responsible dog training, handling, and dog safety.

My responsibilities also include putting on trick dog shows at Nursing homes, Veteran's Hospitals, retirement villages, and in many therapy establishments.