Spirit’s Trading Cards

In 2020, the Alliance of Therapy Dogs sent an email with information about ordering trading cards for our therapy dogs.  I looked at the website, but the cards were designed for groups that visit, with only one photo of each dog.  That didn’t interest me at all, since I have multiple therapy dogs and LOTS of great photos of each. We go to Tongue River Elementary School (grades pre-kindergarten through 5th) every Monday, and Holy Name School every Thursday. 

I wanted to do trading cards to give to the kids who participate in Reading Dogs as well as the kids who write letters to the Reading Dogs, enclosing one in each letter the dogs write back to the kids on their personalized stationery.  Since most of the kids read to the dogs every month of the school year, I wanted a lot of different trading cards so they could collect them and – of course – trade them with friends.

My artistic friend, Teresa, at Epiphany Printing, agreed to design cards for each of my Reading Dogs.  Each dog has a special color scheme that will be used in their books as well as their trading cards.  

We got Berakah’s trading cards done in the spring of 2021, just in time to give them to the kids before school got out.  During the summer we finished the trading cards for GloryToo and Lovely.  GloryToo and Lovely each have 18 cards.  The cards are so popular that I am thinking I’ll have to do another set for GloryToo and Lovely. Now, in February 2022, we got Spirit’s done – and we did 36!   

The nursing home residents always enjoy stories of what the kids do at Reading Dogs, so I enclose a trading card in the weekly letters I write.  I write 6 letters to residents (3 at each nursing home), one letter to the Alzheimer’s Unit at one nursing home, and one letter to a shut in.

We print them a little larger than normal trading card size so that both the very young and the elderly can enjoy the photos and explanations. 

Because, unfortunately, people steal things off the internet, these photos have “sample” printed on them, though the ones I give out do not.

See Berakah’s Trading Cards
See GloryToo’s Trading Cards
See Lovely’s Trading Cards