Pets Australia Issue 70 August 2017

Photos: Story Dogs, Katie Cincotta

66

PETS | Paw Tales

The answer isn’t always in the classroom,

as the Story Dogs program has discovered.

Volunteers and their dogs are now helping

close to 1000 children each week discover

the joy of reading.

What started as a pilot program at

Sandringham East Primary School has expanded

to dog teams in 122 schools across Victoria,

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and

Western Australia. The children are mostly aged

between seven and 10, and each week they sit

and read with their dog and its owner.

Through local sponsors donating $500 a

year, the creative program is helping children

relax, overcome their fear of reading and gain

confi dence, with the helping paw of a dog. This

is a listener who won’t growl when they make a

mistake and who won’t judge them if they’re slow

to move through sentences or mispronounce a

word. A dog simply sits and listens, often cuddled

against their body, happy for a pat or a treat at

the end of their time together.

Pass a child a smartphone, a gaming

console or an iPad and they’ll jump at the

chance to play. Pass a child a book and

many will screw up their noses, say reading

is “boring” and “hard”, especially those

struggling to make progress.

August http://www.facebook.com/petsmagazine

Thanks to the help of

our canine friends, many

young people struggling

with reading are fi nding

their happily ever after.

By Katie Cincotta.

Sheila, Chia and Daniel are

seen here at Sassafras Primary.

happilyhappily

ever afever afterter

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