A Nurse's Pet Project

For children who can't read well, reading to a group can be torture. But reading to a dog is an altogether different thing. That's the bright idea that led a Utah nurse to build a successful children's reading program.

Sandi Martin, RN, had wanted a dog for 25 years, but as a nurse manager in critical care at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, her 12-hour shifts, professional activities, and speaking engagements made the commitment impossible. So she made some major changes. She transferred to a job managing community outreach, which gave her more regular hours. She reduced her out-of-town speaking engagements. She bought a house. And she adopted Olivia, a Portuguese water dog.

Shortly after adopting Olivia, Martin had a conversation with Kathy Klotz, the director of Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA), which brings pets into therapeutic settings. The two women noticed that, across the board, the children ITA served "had lower self-esteem, didn't seem to want to do the tasks required for them to improve, and were often intimidated by peers or family or therapists." With therapy animals, the children became more confident, began to look forward to accomplishing tasks, and found a new sense of focus.

Martin had a thought: reading-challenged kids – why wouldn't therapy animals work for them, too?

Dogs Can't Read, But …

Martin's pilot program, Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ), started in November 1999 and ran five afternoons a week at a local library. Called Dog Day Afternoons, it included six children and six animals – one being a reading cat. "Looking around the [reading] room, you saw children with their heads in a book – leaning against a dog or with their arms around the dog – all reading."

One boy in particular made Martin feel she was on the right track. He'd been uncomfortable when he first sat down with Olivia, saying quietly, "I don't read well." Martin told him, "Olivia can't read at all, but she's a wonderful listener." That first day the boy sat down and read a basic book, looking at Olivia after each word. The next week, he brought his own book and read half the words in it correctly, a vast difference from the week before. "The fourth week," says Martin, "he came bounding in the door, yelling, 'Olivia, I've got a great book today!' the difference in that little boy from the first week to the fourth was remarkable."

The success prompted Martin to develop relationships with local elementary schools. A group of at-risk children got to read with dogs for 20 minutes per week, and they were also given a book as a prize when they completed a number of chapters or a number of books. Not only did all the children's reading improve, but their attendance, self-esteem, and behavior also improved. One girl reached the last page during her first class and squealed, "I've never read a whole book before!" Another child lost her stutter when she read with the dogs. Many kids say they like it because the dogs don't laugh at them.

How to Keep Dogs Fascinated

"It's amazing how many parents say, 'How do you get your dog to read?'" laughs Martin. She understands their confusion. When handlers say "turn," the dog will lift its paw for the page to be turned. By hiding dog treats between the pages, while practicing at home, owners train the dogs to seem riveted to the story. And they are riveted … looking for treats.

When Martin guesses that a child doesn't know the meaning of a word, she'll ask the dog if she knows what it means. "The dog looks at you blankly – because that's how they always look – and you say the dog doesn't have any idea what the word means. Then two out of three of you don't know the word." The child is not alone.

After Olivia's untimely death in 2001, Martin adopted another Portuguese water dog, Zelda, who is also a READ volunteer. Martin proudly reports that READ recently received a Points of Light Award from President Bush and that Zelda was asked to pull the ribbon at the grand opening of the new Salt Lake City public library.

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