TDI for Children

[Cathy Moon]

I'm so excited! The company I work for is asking for volunteers to go into the local schools once a week from 3:15 to 4:30 pm to help out with an after school reading program.

This is the TDI opportunity I've been waiting for! I've gotten permission from the person in charge at my company to call school and ask if they are interested in my therapy dogs, India and Chocolate, for their reading program. Then I have to run it by my boss, who is letting another employee do volunteer Junior Achievement work in the schools (so how can he say no to me!). If this works out, everything I've worked for with my girl cavvies will be fulfilled!

[judy]

Cathy, that is awesome. I'm eager to hear about how this goes. This is a goal of mine too, something i have a lot to learn about. Are Chocolate and India certified therap dogs? I'm trying to find out what the process is, what has to be accomplished in order to get there. Will you be using both dogs together, or switch off?

[Cathy Moon]

Judy,
On the AKC website, you can find the Canine Good Citizen test, then on the Therapy Dog International site, I am fairly certain the test can be found. All you need to do is regular obedience training, and your pup needs to have the right temperament to pass the TDI part of the test. In fact, Chocolate passed the test without having had any formal obedience training with me. However, Chocolate was a show dog with her former owner, so she was already very well-behaved when she came to us.

When your dog is tested, he will get his AKC-CGC and a TDI registration!

Ooops! Yes, they are both certified/registered therapy dogs!

[Forest]

Hope everything works for you and the girls Cathy
Julie and the girls

[Bruce H]

A while back my wife looked into a program where children with reading difficulties would read to a dog. Can't remember for sure, but it was called something like "Reading to Dogs". They claimed the children learned much faster because they see the dog as non-judgemental and are more relaxed. Maybe someone else here knows something about this and can help my poor, old memory. Or maybe this is exactly the program you are refering to; I thought it sounded really cool.

[Claire]

That's great news Cathy, the kids will love you and your girls.... (who could'nt)

[molly]

Cathy, you and the pups are going to love doing this! You will get so much out of this heart warming endeavor. I do this with a reading tutor (in her home) who works with children with reading disorders. It is amazing to see the confidence develop in the children as they read to the dog week by week. The dog reacts so positively to the attention and the child enjoys a totally non-judgemental audience for their reading skills! It is soooo rewarding and the dog loves it!

[Karlin]

Cathy, that sounds fantastic; will look forward to hearing about your experiences as it all comes together!

I've heard about that programme too, Bruce; it sounds great.

[Cathy T]

That sounds great Cathy. Jake and Shelby (me too!) are beginning a training class Nov 22nd in order to get both of them CGC certified. Then we'll go on to more training.

[Maxxs_Mummy]

Oh isn't that lovely? I love the idea of the kids reading to dogs, my own kids used to do it when they were small

I used to take my youngest in with me when he was a baby and the kids who were too shy to read to me, used to read to him instead - didn't matter that he'd sleep through it