Danny, a greyhound, has an important job at Oakhill primary school in Tamworth, Staffordshire. He trained for five months to become a "listening" dog. As a representative of the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ) program he listens to children read. He is a registered therapy dog who helps children improve their literacy skills by listening nonjudgmentally to students. The program has been found to improve the confidence and self esteem of young readers.
Link - Via boingboing
Aww. (:
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I hope they've taught it not to yawn at the kids. Dogs do a very fine line in yawns.
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Awww, my kids had a listening guinea pig at school, she had a little sofa and really seemed to enjoy chillaxing while the kids read to her.
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*Loves it*
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The library I interned at this past summer has Ace the Library Dog, who was introduced for a similar purpose, but he generally gets "checked out" by people who just want to spend time with a cute doggy in the library rather than necessarily read to them. :)
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Cute!
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Somehow I pictured a kid reading to a parked bus.
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Glad to see a non-judgmental dog succeed(some dogs can be so catty...).
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This is happy all around! Kids learning to read, greyhounds not being used for racing, kids spending time with dogs.
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Because my grandson was reading far below the level needed for him to pass first grade, he took time each morning to read to his dogs, a lab and a boxer. The dogs loved the attention and my grandson's reading ability improved dramatically. Four years later, my grandson is performing well above the grade average but, every morning, he takes time to talk to his dogs.
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That's a lovely story, Catherine.
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