Ideas for all from the READ forum

[Jo Ann Russell]

This is from the READ forum. I wanted to share with all our therapy teams as I thought the idea about a homemade book about the dog would be a neat thing to share when you make a first visit in a resident's room or in a hospital room when the patient is really into the dog. Some thing to talk about and get conversations going.

In READ_Forum@yahoogro ups.com, "ipawlisch" <tom222@...> wrote:
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> I am new to R.E.A.D. but not to literacy dog work. My name is Irene Pawlisch from Fall River, WI. About 30 minutes east of Madison. My husband, Tom teaches third grade in Fall River. We decided to do literacy dog work a few years back with our older dog but she has since retired and our puppy has taken her place.
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> This year with the assistance of R.E.A.D. we have decided to step up the program to do more therapy reading work to reach the lowest readers. I am also working with the Columbus Public library to schedule a monthly literacy dog night. I am associated with Canine Solutions out of Beaver Dam, WI. They have done a great job of working with the public schools and library in their community. Demand increases as more people meet the dogs stretching our local teams thin. At this time I am the only active team working R.E.A.D. team in Columbus and Fall River.
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> Good Golly Ms. Molly is a two year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever. As a puppy the breeder's children called her Molly the Moose because she bossed all the other puppies around. She is still lots of energy and loves the school visits. It is constant training to remind her to remain calm and to not run full speed to "Daddy's" classroom to start work.
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> Fall is a busy time of year for us with hunting weekends. Molly loves to flop over onto her back to let the kids rub her belly while making silly upside down faces when they finish reading. Sometimes we have to work around hunting since her belly gets small wounds from running in the woods. The students have been understanding and empathetic when we have to adjust her reading schedule to let her heal up.
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> I made a picture book titled "Golly Molly" to show the many sides of Molly which helps me connect with the students as they share their interests. Students appreciate her attention seeking personality as they work together to complete a book. Tom and I always stress to the students they are teaching her how to be a good listener and they take pride in helping us teach her to be the best dog she can be in and out of the school.
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