Post by rallycairn on Jul 16, 2013 15:32:12 GMT 1
I've done pet therapy for donkey's years, most recently (for about 4 or 5 years now) with a Richmond, VA group called Caring Canines. I am team leader for a local rehabilitation center (what we used to call a nursing home) and do some other visits as well. Most notably, I used to be a regular at a small branch library, but it closed for renovations about a year and a half ago. At the libraries, what we do is called "Read 2 Rover," where kids who are struggling with reading can read aloud to a sympathetic canine companion.
Well, even though the Chesterfield County library system loves Caring Canines and has weekly Read 2 Rover sessions at their Central library, and monthly sessions at at least one other branch, I kind of wondered if they would re-start R2R at my old Ettrick-Matoaca branch when it re-opened. They are really emphasizing computer services and so forth, plus the participation at that branch in R2R could be kind of spotty.
I needn't have worried! The library contacted our group's director when they were getting ready to re-open. Caring Canines needed a new team leader for that branch, sadly, because the former team leader's dog was recently lost to cancer, so I volunteered.
The head librarian asked me to email her some pictures of my Cleopatra. (I actually have two Cairns certified for pet therapy, but Patra is the one I usually take to R2R). OMG they produced the most beautiful hi-res posters of her and have them plastered at several of the branches, and at the Ettrick Matoaca branch itself they put the poster in the middle of a huge whiteboard and drew giant arrows to it with slogans like "Meet Cleopatra!" the third Monday of the month at 6:30! and so forth.
It really warmed my heart to feel so appreciated. So, Patra and I showed up early last night and at first it looked a little bleak. No kids at all in the library (we will walk around and invite younger kids to read and older kids just to interact with Patra if there are no readers waiting). But after a couple of minutes, a girl with her mother and grandmother showed up. Then another girl with her mother. The group of us read for a while, then a really young brother and sister came with their mother ... and so on. It was a great evening and we ran over an hour. Patra was starting to get restless but I wanted all the kids to have at least one turn.
Plenty of the old American favorite authors are still around -- I had Betsy Byars (a Golly Sisters book), Beverly Cleary (the classic Beezus and Ramona), and several picture books, one about learning to compromise (Mr. and Mrs. Muddle) and one about the dangers of being bossy (Boss for a Day, in which the older twin by 10 minutes is terribly bossy to her younger brother), and one of the Nancy Clancy books by Jane O'Connor, this one featuring the subject of hearts -- both literal and metaphorical; lots of vocabulary words are worked into the Nancy Clancy books in a reasonably natural way.
Irish Red was attempted by a 9-year-old, but it was a little slow going for her, opening with Danny needing to bathe in the old washtub because Mike the Irish Setter pup has dragged him through the pigpen. (Really, Kjelgaard is for slightly older readers anyway.) But happily the Nancy Clancy book got her back in the swing of things.
It was just a great session and I get so much out of it -- I love interacting with the kids and watching some of them (this branch serves a generally lower income area) interact with a dog for the first time. And I love keeping up with some of the newest children's book releases. There are so many lovely books both at the picture book level (thanks to R2R I have read the lovely Stellaluna, for example, which I never would have seen in any other context) but also multi-chapter books for early readers, like the Golly Sisters books and similar.
Sigh. Great Monday, enjoying a library and sharing books and my dog with kids!
PS: This page is from our group's website. Patra is pictured (a different pose from the one they used on the poster, though), as well as Patra's (and my!) dear friends Austin the toy Aussie, Benny the Sheltie, Clover the German Shepherd (he and Patra have been in some of the same Rally Obedience classes), and others. Alex the Corgi is fighting cancer right now, but doing well.
www.caringk9.com/Gallery_Of_Our_Dogs_-_A-C.html
Well, even though the Chesterfield County library system loves Caring Canines and has weekly Read 2 Rover sessions at their Central library, and monthly sessions at at least one other branch, I kind of wondered if they would re-start R2R at my old Ettrick-Matoaca branch when it re-opened. They are really emphasizing computer services and so forth, plus the participation at that branch in R2R could be kind of spotty.
I needn't have worried! The library contacted our group's director when they were getting ready to re-open. Caring Canines needed a new team leader for that branch, sadly, because the former team leader's dog was recently lost to cancer, so I volunteered.
The head librarian asked me to email her some pictures of my Cleopatra. (I actually have two Cairns certified for pet therapy, but Patra is the one I usually take to R2R). OMG they produced the most beautiful hi-res posters of her and have them plastered at several of the branches, and at the Ettrick Matoaca branch itself they put the poster in the middle of a huge whiteboard and drew giant arrows to it with slogans like "Meet Cleopatra!" the third Monday of the month at 6:30! and so forth.
It really warmed my heart to feel so appreciated. So, Patra and I showed up early last night and at first it looked a little bleak. No kids at all in the library (we will walk around and invite younger kids to read and older kids just to interact with Patra if there are no readers waiting). But after a couple of minutes, a girl with her mother and grandmother showed up. Then another girl with her mother. The group of us read for a while, then a really young brother and sister came with their mother ... and so on. It was a great evening and we ran over an hour. Patra was starting to get restless but I wanted all the kids to have at least one turn.
Plenty of the old American favorite authors are still around -- I had Betsy Byars (a Golly Sisters book), Beverly Cleary (the classic Beezus and Ramona), and several picture books, one about learning to compromise (Mr. and Mrs. Muddle) and one about the dangers of being bossy (Boss for a Day, in which the older twin by 10 minutes is terribly bossy to her younger brother), and one of the Nancy Clancy books by Jane O'Connor, this one featuring the subject of hearts -- both literal and metaphorical; lots of vocabulary words are worked into the Nancy Clancy books in a reasonably natural way.
Irish Red was attempted by a 9-year-old, but it was a little slow going for her, opening with Danny needing to bathe in the old washtub because Mike the Irish Setter pup has dragged him through the pigpen. (Really, Kjelgaard is for slightly older readers anyway.) But happily the Nancy Clancy book got her back in the swing of things.
It was just a great session and I get so much out of it -- I love interacting with the kids and watching some of them (this branch serves a generally lower income area) interact with a dog for the first time. And I love keeping up with some of the newest children's book releases. There are so many lovely books both at the picture book level (thanks to R2R I have read the lovely Stellaluna, for example, which I never would have seen in any other context) but also multi-chapter books for early readers, like the Golly Sisters books and similar.
Sigh. Great Monday, enjoying a library and sharing books and my dog with kids!
PS: This page is from our group's website. Patra is pictured (a different pose from the one they used on the poster, though), as well as Patra's (and my!) dear friends Austin the toy Aussie, Benny the Sheltie, Clover the German Shepherd (he and Patra have been in some of the same Rally Obedience classes), and others. Alex the Corgi is fighting cancer right now, but doing well.
www.caringk9.com/Gallery_Of_Our_Dogs_-_A-C.html