The dog didn’t eat my homework.
Our puppy just peed on the floor. I used my mean voice and my stern eyes to let her know that I wasn’t happy. Yet this is the same puppy the endured a weekend’s worth of a half-dozen kids running through our house playing hide-and-seek. This is the same puppy that Kiddo Number 1 reads to every night.
Our puppy has shown extreme patience and I owe it to her to do the same. I need to take a page from Kiddo Number 1’s book. And speaking of dogs and books… there is a neat program that some members of the Western Québec School Board participant in that pairs dogs and young readers. Using therapy dogs, kids are encouraged to build their literary skills, all the while getting an encouraging lick or a wagged tail.
The program is called Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ). Seems there are programs in Aylmer Quebec and Arnprior Ontario and Winnipeg Mantioba.
I wonder what our puppy would think if I read her drafts of my next novel.
Tags: books for young Canadian readers, Canadian therapy dogs, kids reading to dogs, Reading Education Assistance Dogs