See Spot Read

I’m very excited that we’re adding new locations for the program this fall. The first is Holly Springs Library in Wake County. This will be a regular monthly reading session on the first Wednesday at 4:30 pm.

The second location is the new Jordan Lake School of the Arts in Apex, NC. This beautiful school is for children with special needs and their siblings and extended families. This school will value and nurture the differences in each child while providing a total learning environment. I’m very excited that our therapy dogs will be part of their program.

The summer was otherwise very successful, and we’ve had great turnouts and responses at all our locations. Thanks again to all the wonderful volunteers that make this program possible.

Well, it has been a little while since I’ve blogged and things have gone well for See Spot Read. Some highlights:

• We were at Fox Road Elementary School from about March through May with a twice-weekly program. The kids and librarian were terrific and the program got rave reviews from staff, students and parents. We’re looking forward to a full school year beginning in September.
• Our monthly sessions at 4 libraries and the Boys & Girls Club have continued meeting with success and positive responses from library patrons. We’re hoping to add some new locations in the fall
• Volunteer membership has grown! The use of Meetup to manage the sessions has been a big help too. But we’re also getting great referrals from the area trainers who are doing pet therapy certification. We’ll need more locations to make sure all our volunteers have opportunities to read.

I’ll try to blog more frequently, and hope to see you soon at a reading session.

We had a terrific session yesterday at West Regional Library in Cary. It is a beautiful library that opened in 2006 — very modern and spacious.

Three teams attended — me & Freddie, Anthony & Guido and Liz with Friday. We had many children come into the community room to read and visit with the dogs. It turned out that the year-round school kids had a makeup day from the snow so we had fewer kids of reading age this time around.

But we had plenty of younger children, so we did some reading ourselves to the kids, and that was just fine. We’re successful when we see positive interactions between the kids and the dogs. There are plenty of times when little ones are scared or unsure about approaching a dog, and it is so gratifying to see them warm up, gain courage and pet the dogs.

We also had two autistic readers yesterday (both boys) and it was really heartwarming to see these kids interact with the dogs. We all hear how autistic kids benefit from being with dogs, but it is really wonderful to see it in action.

The librarians were also great and had hugs and kisses for the dogs. I was really happy about how this session went and we are looking forward to returning to West Regional next month.

Well, it has been a while since a new blog post, but I hope to make it a more regular occurrence.

See Spot Read has expanded dramatically from 2008 to 2009. We now have 5 regular locations in Wake County — 4 libraries and the Boys & Girls Club. We also have a great group of volunteers and therapy dogs.

January was busy. I held a training session for about 8 new volunteers and we had six reading dates.

We’ve added West Regional Library in Cary and Southgate Branch Library in Raleigh. And we’re still visiting the Boys & Girls club, Green Road and East Regional Library every month. We’ve also done two sessions at Richard B. Harrison Library but don’t have a regular schedule there.

I’ll post more news more regularly as well as my own musings.

We continue to have great success with the reading programs at Green Road Library and at the Boys & Girls Club of Raleigh.

We were also invited to attend a Pet Fair at the Knightdale Library and got a warm reception there from the library staff and patrons. We had about 5 therapy dogs there over 3 hours, and told a lot of people about the program.

Last night was another fun evening at Green Road Library. There were about 8 or 10 kids, some of whom had participated in earlier sessions. Many of them were younger and not reading yet, but they enjoyed the interaction with the dogs. I’m all for promoting positive contact with the dogs, especially among minorities who may not be as comfortable with dogs.

Here are some comments from Cindy on the session we did last night at the Boys & Girls Club of Raleigh on New Hope Church Road. This is exactly the kind of thing that I was hoping to do when I established See Spot Read. There were lots of kids, lots of excitement and everyone had a great time.
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We had a great turn out tonight with 8 or 9 dogs, I can’t remember
which but it went great and I think all had a good time.

The kids were VERY excited about us coming and loved all the dogs and
reading to them. I got asked several times when we were coming back
as I am sure others did too.

They have a great facility which is full to the max of 60 kids.
4 Staff members are there at all time and everyone was nice and VERY
appreciative of us coming in. There is plenty of room for us to
split up into different rooms and have the reading sessions.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 4/24 at 6pm or whenever
you can get there, they close at 8pm and kids are there till 8pm as
people wait to the last minute to pick-up.

We need at least 5 teams to come but the more the merrier we say.
Pepe, the director of the club says there is no limit as to how many
dogs, the kids loved them and he is looking forward to us coming again.
So whoever wants to come feel free.

This is also good for dogs in training or those that just want to
socialize with the kids, they love them but you have to be with your
dog at all times so 1 handler per dog please. The kids love to pet
and play with the dogs and they did great with them.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to do this as nothing is
scheduled for those days.

Starting 6/11 - 8/8 they go to their summer hours which is 7am-6pm so
we will do the sessions at 3:30pm during those months which I know is
harder for some people dur to work schedules but anyone that is
available during the daytime we will need your help then.

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And here are my comments:

I have to second Cindy’s enthusiasm for the Boys & Girls club last
night. It was a blast, in addition to being barely controlled chaos.
Those kids were amazing. And they LOVED the dogs.

I had a great time with Tiffany’s 10 month old bloodhound, Sherman. He
was all ears and droopy cheeks, with just a great temperament. I was
thoroughly in love by the end of the evening.

The other 8 dogs spent time socializing and reading with the kids, and
it seemed like a great success all around. I heard lots of kids ask us
to come back tomorrow, and I think they’ll be glad to see us in
another two weeks.

The kids were great - some were a bit afraid of the dogs, but most
were interested, friendly and respectful. Overall, it was just a
wonderful experience and everyone had a good time.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night: Jane & Luna, Erin & Dylan,
Tiffany with Paco & Sherman, Cindy & Happy, Liz & Friday, Joan &
Lizzie, Jay & Jasper, Mary & (oops, can’t remember).

I hope that we can get at least 5 or 6 dogs each time at this very
appreciative location. Lots of kudos to Cindy Golden for discovering
and coordinating this opportunity. I hope that everyone will pitch in
and support the upcoming sessions.

Good news to report at Green Road Library. The librarian there has agreed to a regularly scheduled reading date with the dogs.

The family night that we did last week was so successful that she wants dogs available every family night. These occur on the third Tuesday of each month, beginning at 7 pm.

I will most likely bring Freddie to these, but will need one other dog to accompany us, or two dogs if I’m unable to go. I will ask for volunteers one to two weeks in advance of the date.

This is great news for See Spot Read, and again, I strongly encourage you to reach out to other community resources, bookstores, libraries, church groups, etc., to find more opportunities.

We had another excellent reading session at Green Road Library last night during their family night program. I was really encouraged by the enthusiasm of the kids and parents, and the support of the librarian.

Freddie and I were joined by Brenda & Teddy (an adorable poodle) and Tiffany & Paco (a handsome Belgian Malinois). Upon entering the library, Freddie promptly proceeded to scare the heck out of a few people who are not used to seeing a big dog come into the library. Despite his adorable face, I still have to keep in mind that not everyone is as comfortable with big dogs.

At around 7:00 pm, there were quite a few kids in the library being tutored and several families had signed up in advance to have their kids read to the dogs. Between 7:00 and 8:00, all three dogs were kept pretty busy with readers. By 8:00 pretty much everyone had gone home.

The highlight of the evening for me and Freddie was a family with an older girl and two younger boys, all of whom were afraid of the dogs (particularly Freddie). Each one of the children managed to conquer their fear and come closer to the dogs. Those three kids read to each of the three dogs, and by the end of the hour were happily stroking Freddie, feeding treats to Teddy and saying goodbye to Paco. The two boys were particularly charming and happy to snuggle up for reading.

There was a little more noise and chaos this time than before, but it didn’t seem to bother the kids one bit. Freddie had at least 4 or 5 children read to him, and everyone seemed engaged in the experience. At one point, Freddie put his chin on the book in front of him and I had to lift his head so the child could turn the page.

Luckily, no one decided to read “Kat Kong” or “Dogzilla”. Instead, I heard “Dog Heaven” (which is kind of a tear jerker if you’ve ever lost a dog), a story about Boomer getting a new puppy, another story about a boy eating too many hot dogs, and a nice dog safety book that I think was called “May I Pet Your Dog?”. I know for sure that Teddy heard “Dog Breath” and there was so much going on that I don’t know what stories Paco heard.

Overall, I thought it was a great success. I especially felt good that our dogs were helping kids enjoy reading and also helping some of them overcome their fears. I’ll be following up with the librarian to schedule another session, and perhaps we will settle into a schedule where we can start to build some regulars and repeat readers.

I really encourage others in the group to go out and find reading opportunities. It is just a great feeling. Thanks again to Tiffany & Paco, and Brenda & Teddy for joining us at this event.

I held another great training session for See Spot Read last night at the North Regional Library. There were 9 others in attendance. I thought the session went extremely well, except for some low volume problems on the DVD. The technology is good, but not always perfect. But I think people managed to hear most of it and got some good tips.

Everyone seemed enthused and eager to learn more about the program. Now, folks just have to get out there and find opportunities to read. There are a lot of places to look – community centers, libraries, book stores, church groups, YMCAs, etc.

So, I encourage everyone to start looking for reading opportunities. All the material you need to succeed is out there on the Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pawstiveconnectiontriangle/

Just join the group and access the information in the Files section of the site. Remember to post your efforts in the group and in the Database section for Facilities Contacted. Let others know what you are doing and you’ll be sure to get volunteers to help with your reading efforts.

Nearly 20 people have participated in the training session, so there should be a good group of people out there looking for opportunities. Now that we have some critical mass, let’s get out there!

Last night, I held the first training and information session for the See Spot Read reading program for kids and dogs. There were 7 in attendance, and several others who had to cancel last minute.

I began with introductions and a little bit about why the program was formed and its brief history to date. Then, I gave a presentation on the program, the process to follow and the many resources that we are making available on our Yahoo Group and web site (www.seespotread.com).

In particular, the most important point was that this “organization” is not really organized in a traditional sense. We won’t be incorporating, but will exist mostly to share information and network with others who want to find and pursue opportunities for kids to read to dogs. So everyone who wishes to be affiliated is responsible for finding and sharing these opportunities, while also sticking to the guidelines of the group.

My role is mostly to coordinate, since I don’t think I can find and organize all the reading opportunities myself. Rather, my goal is to encourage others to find and lead those opportunities and make it easier for them by sharing information and resources.

After the presentation, we watched a training DVD from Intermountain Therapy Animals’ READ program. This was a great introduction to the concept of kids reading to dogs in schools and libraries. It had some good pointers about how to conduct reading sessions and facilitate between the child and the dog. I also gave some information about joining ITA as a READ partner for anyone that was interested.

It already looks like we have a great core of people who are willing and interested in getting involved. It felt like people left the session with a better idea of what we are doing and with some motivation to find reading opportunities now that more material is available in the Yahoo group.

As a follow up, I’ll be sending out information to the group, making the presentation available and posting more resources as they become available. I feel like it got off to a great start, and I’ll be scheduling another session in March for those unable to come to this one.