The Power of Therapy Dogs as Reading Partners

I have loved and utilized two therapy dogs for over 20 years in my elementary and college classrooms. My current golden, Beauty, had the temperament and discipline early on—at only 1 year old—for classroom therapy work. She showed such patience and joy of interaction that she was certified as a reading partner dog. Regular classroom visits from a reading partner dog can amplify a literacy curriculum, producing social as well as academic benefits. I have witnessed how a dog’s gift of unconditional acceptance has social, emotional, and cognitive impacts on students in a classroom.

Creating reading partnerships between dogs and children is a fulfilling way to utilize animal therapy. As a dog listens to students reading aloud, children make huge strides in their literacy skills, including frequency, confidence, and motivation. One teacher I worked with said, “The students don’t even realize they’re learning reading strategies because they are so engrossed with their reading to the dog, and the strategies are offered in a natural, nonjudgmental way.”

Finding a reading partner therapy dog 

It’s vital that you only use a reading partner team certified by a reputable organization. The American Kennel Club maintains a list of approved therapy dog organizations. Many also offer the extended training for reading partner teams. My dog, Beauty, is certified by Dog B.O.N.E.S. (Dogs Building Opportunities for Nurturing and Emotional Support). Beyond the logistics of assuring the health of the dog and the organization-provided liability insurance, the certified dog team will have undergone rigorous training and testing in the principles of therapy dog visitation.

For example, in Beauty’s basic therapy dog training, she had to walk only to me, unleashed, down a long hallway with people in the rooms along the way calling to her. She had to ride in an elevator, have books dropped behind her, and learn the correct way to approach a wheelchair (hint—it’s not from the front).

Then, Beauty attended additional sessions in guidance for reading partnership. Importantly, one cannot “make” any dog a therapy or reading dog—it is a wonderful happenstance of the attitude of the dog itself. An untrained dog and handler can pose a risk to your students and hamper future animal therapy programs.

Preparing the classroom for a reading therapy dog

Outreach to families. Once you gain approval from your school for a reading therapy dog, it’s important to communicate with the families of every child. You may need to provide accommodations if a child has allergies or a family has cultural beliefs about dogs and would prefer to opt their child out of visiting. 

Prepare the children. Explain what will be happening with the dog in the classroom, how it should be approached and handled, and basic behavior rules of respect for readers.

Prepare the classroom. Use a blanket or carpet to designate an out-of-the-way area of the room, ideally during free-read classroom time.  

Set a schedule. Establish a schedule based on the timing of the dog’s visit. Beauty  was able to happily listen to children reading without falling asleep for 45 minutes. We used five-minute turns for each team of two children. One read and one brushed or petted, then they switched. One child in the classroom kept the timer. Ensure that children who are pulled from the classroom for special tutoring, etc., are included in the rotating roster so everyone gets a turn.

Allow children to choose their own reading. In a second-grade classroom, my golden heard from a diverse range of selections, from short picture books for English as a second language readers to Harry Potter.

One teacher reported that the dog team “became so much a part of the classroom that students anxiously await reading to her each week, picking out their books and practicing beforehand so they could show Beauty they were becoming better readers.”

Commit to building the relationship over time. An isolated visit by a patient dog can do wonders for the classroom social and emotional environment, but the real benefits are seen in students’ reading abilities after repeated, regular sessions. One teacher shared that one child “gained so much self-confidence during his time with Beauty and Professor Nichols that he came back to me a year later to read to my class and shared that Beauty gave him his new love of reading.”

Think beyond reading. My dog made additional visits during writing curriculum sessions and established her own email address to receive edited work. As one teacher shared, “This activity was a great success and really turned some students’ attitudes completely around, giving them a purpose to write and edit their writing.”

During our reading partner sessions, I saw fearful children in need of extra practice warm to the idea of reading to the dog. I saw children without fluent English, who never had the confidence to read aloud to teachers, read aloud to the dog. I saw joy in learning. As one teacher who welcomed Beauty into her classroom shared, “I was not expecting the impact she would have on my students. She would join us on the classroom rug, and the students would immediately want to choose a book to read to her. This program empowered all students to move forward through their issues and escape in a book and a dog.”