These days, most dogs earn their keep by being loyal and loving companion animals. But more and more, people are realizing the canine's value in any number of useful functions. Schools -- reading programs in particular -- are popular locations for registered therapy dogs to assist in the learning process. Children and dogs are natural teammates, so having a dog helping in the reading and learning process would only serve to enhance the program.
Registered Therapy Dogs Teach and Listen
Trained therapy dogs are frequently called upon at a small rural school district in Kansas for help with lessons, as well as to teach social skills and responsibility and to comfort students in a time of grief or personal crisis. Their most popular use, however, is as reading companions. At Oakstead Elementary School in Florida, for example, a third-grade class was awarded the opportunity to read with Tipper, the therapy long-haired dachshund, if they met their literacy goals.
"I read because I like animals and I wanted to see Tipper," said one of the students when her turn to read with Tipper was over. Using a therapy dog as a learning incentive is gaining traction throughout the U.S. Literacy programs are seeing struggling students' literacy skills improve when they read out loud to a therapy dog.
Dogs as Teaching Aids
Reading is not the only function where registered therapy dogs are helping as school aids. Dogbuilders offers trained dogs to schools for the following types of programs:
- Teen groups - Using dogs to help students communicate; empowering students, teaching responsibility, kindness & trust without discrimination
- 'Tween groups - Dogs help build self-esteem, discuss effects of positive & negative reinforcement, learn responsibility & boundaries
- Elementary groups - Dogs help students with reading skills; students learn dog-safety & how to avoid dog bites
There are different definitions of what dogs in school do, according to Sarah Holbert, CEO of Canine Assistance, Rehabilitation, Education and Services, Inc. (C.A.R.E.S.) When therapy dogs graduate from the C.A.R.E.S. program, they have been trained to help bolster people who may need assistance getting up after a fall. Most of the dogs are large, such as Labrador retrievers, mastiffs and Newfoundlands.
Holbert adds that the dogs are also taught sign language to assist the hearing impaired. And the dog graduates know 43 basic commands and are even trained for basic search-and-rescue, not just for emergencies, but to play hide-and-seek with the children. All dogs must be tested for temperament, pass physical exams, be spayed or neutered, and test negative for heartworm and physical abnormalities.
Overcoming Allergies and Fear of Dogs
When discussing dogs in the classroom, Holbert points out that people are immediately concerned about children and adults who suffer from pet allergies. She notes that allergy sufferers are taught not to touch the therapy dogs, in order to keep the dog's dander at a distance. While that doesn't always solve the problem, it minimizes the allergy situation in most cases.
A child's fear of dogs could be a huge impediment to having a dog share classroom duties. Trainers, teachers and superintendents report the need for gentle training so the child gains trust with the dog. In the process, that child --- and his classmates as well -- can be educated about how to approach a strange dog, and thus help to prevent dog bites.
Having a registered therapy dog in the classroom -- or library -- encouraging children to read and learn other subjects, is a fun experience for both sides, a win-win operation. Further, it is another step in returning dogs to their place as working helpers next to their guardians and protectors.
Source:
St. Petersburg Times, "Teaching Aid Comes With a Collar" (10/22/2008) (accessed 9/27/2010)
Paula Randolph - Paula has had many years of writing experience since her degree in English. Recent work includes ghost writing a fantasy-adventure ...
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