2025 Reading Dog Fun
January – May
1/22/25: Spirit’s birthday party with the Holy Name School kindergarteners
We had some excitement this morning. Spirit was supposed to do Reading Dog AND celebrate her 10th birthday with the Holy Name School kindergarteners at 8:30. Each year I make a special treat to take to her birthday party. They’re called Elephant Ears (I’m not sure why) and are a cookie that is similar to cinnamon rolls. You make a yeast dough but, instead of letting it rise like you do for cinnamon rolls, you chill it for two hours, then roll it out thinly, cut it into circles, drizzle butter, cinnamon sugar and nuts on top, and bake. The cookies like cinnamon rolls – heavenly. They take several hours to make, so I made them Wednesday night. Then Thursday morning, just before I headed to the school, I warmed them up so they’d seem like they had just come out of the oven. They smelled SO good, but I had to resist eating one because this is a big class – 12 kids – plus the teacher and an aide, Spirit and me. The recipe made just enough for all of us, with no extras for me to snack on.
I loaded Spirit and the cookies into the car and headed to the school, but the teacher called and said not to come. The principal couldn’t get to school on time because her road was closed from yesterday’s blowing snow, so she had declared a late-start day. The teacher had been busy calling parents and had forgotten to call me before I left home. She asked if I could come this morning instead. Oh, no, I thought, I have to resist those heavenly-smelling cookies for another 24 hours?????????? Since I was already almost to town, I decided to do my weekly grocery shopping. As the cookies filled my car with their fragrance, I also decided I’d better get a couple of donuts with my groceries, to have for breakfast when I got home. They would help me keep the lid on the pan of cookies so we’d have enough. It worked – barely.
1/23/25: Finally, Spirit’s birthday party!
We were able to do Spirit’s birthday party at Holy Name School the next day. The Elephant Ears were a great hit! They were still good after the day’s delay, though some were stuck together since they had been warmed and then left in the pan overnight. We got them separated with a spatula. At first, some kids said they didn’t want any, but when the others raved about how good they were, changed their minds. They sang Happy Birthday to Spirit before we ate. Can you see Spirit’s and my cookies on the table, and Spirit impatiently staring at hers while the kids sing? I’m so glad the teacher, Emily, takes photos of our fun times.
They were fascinated as I fed Spirit pieces of her cookie. This bunch of kids is SO sweet. Several of them brought pieces of their treats to Spirit.
One boy even gave her a ring. The kids were thrilled when it fit on Spirit’s big toe (kind of). They laughed and clapped. He was very proud of himself!
1/30/25: Our First “Paw Draw” at Holy Name School
A friend sent me two “Live in Faith” beanies that have “Faith” embroidered in cursive writing on the upright arm of a cross. I don’t wear hats, and they’re pretty small, really kid sized, so I gave one hat to the girl in the Ukrainian family whom Holy Name Church is sponsoring. Then I had the brainstorm that perhaps Spirit could give the other hat to one of the kindergarteners.
With only one hat, and 12 kids, I had to think of a fair way to give the hat to only one without the others feeling bad. The kids sometimes expect Spirit to “choose” which book she wants them to read. When they do that, I tell Spirit to “look” and point down at the books spread out on the floor and she bemusedly tries to find a dropped treat, which is what “look” means to her in ordinary life. So I thought, what if we came up with a way to have Spirit choose a kid’s name like she chooses a book? Emily loved the idea, so on Monday I dropped the hat off so that the kids could see it and get excited for Thursday’s “paw draw.”
We had a great time with our “paw draw.” Emily put each child’s name on a large napkin. Three were absent, so we only had 8 napkins. We placed them in a big circle so that it would be easy to see which napkin Spirit touched first – that would be the winner. We lined the kids up and I put Spirit on a stay on the opposite side of the circle from the kids. Then I went on the other side of the circle and called her.
We were surprised when she went all the way through the napkin circle before a hind foot finally touched a napkin. At least there was no confusion about a winner! Emily almost got a picture of Spirit’s right hind foot touching the napkin as she headed to kiss the boy closest to me.
After that excitement, the kids were really “up” when they came to read to Spirit. One little girl insisted that Spirit choose which book she wanted to hear her read. So, four different times, she spread 2 or 3 books before Spirit and asked her which one. And each time I urged Spirit to “look.” She, as usual, had no clue what I wanted but each time eventually (accidentally) touched a book with her chin, nose or (once) a foot. Adults often ask if my therapy dogs know tricks, such as “shake hands.” No, I never get around to teaching tricks, but the dogs know lots of commands that help them interact during therapy dog visits, especially with kids.
During one boy’s turn, he said that he wanted to read his FAVORITE book to Spirit. It was called Circus Train and each page described a different animal entering the train. When he got to the “seal” page, he got all excited and said, “‘Seal,’ that’s you – but it’s spelled different!” He was very proud of himself for knowing different spellings for the same sound, and we spent a lot of time enjoying that page. Emily puts colored stickers on the parts of words with sounds they need to practice – thus the orange highlight on “got” in the photo.
The next day, Emily took a photo of our winner today, proudly wearing her new hat.
2/3/25: Another “Seal”
I have another Cel/Seal story, this time involving a kindergartener at Tongue River Elementary. She is my first scheduled reader, and this week she came a little early, just as I was opening two letters that had been left in the dogs’ mailbox. She was very excited that I was looking at her letter. Then her teacher came in and apologized about the spelling of my name. She said that the little girl had asked her new student teacher how to spell Cel. The student teacher knew nothing of the Reading Dog program and thought the girl was drawing a picture of a seal, so she spelled out “seal” for her. All of us had a good laugh.
2/6/25: A Writing Exercise at Holy Name School
The kindergarteners had done an interesting exercise and gave me their papers. Their teacher (Emily) explained, “The exercise was to write an opinion piece. They are learning how to get the attention of readers – that’s why there is a question and then they explain why they like that. So, we did dogs. And I said they could say anything about dogs and gave some examples.” Here are my favorites of their papers, with Emily’s explanations when I couldn’t decipher their spelling.
1 – “Do you like licking? I like licking because they (tha) are kisses.” (Look at those tongues!!)
2 – “Do you like Spirit the dog? I love Spirit because she is happy every time. I love Cel (Seel) Spirit’s owner (uoner).”
3 – “Do you like dogs? I like dogs because they are love.” (I LOVE this one!!!)
2/21/25: Valentine’s Day Paw Draw
We had so much fun that we decided to do another paw draw for Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, we woke up to -16 degrees, way too cold to take a dog out, so we had to wait until the following week.
I had a tiny fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand stuffed German Shepherd stuffed toy for the prize. It was so cute that I wanted to keep it for myself. Three kids were absent that day, so we had large 8 napkins with their names written on them spread out in a large circle. The kids were so excited that they could hardly sit still. I left Spirit on a stay on the far side of the circle and went to the line of kids and called her (do you see the tips of her ears in the fourth photo?).
We couldn’t believe that she went through the napkins and never touched one. I had to send her back through the circle before she finally touched the napkin that happened to belong to the boy next to me. I couldn’t read the name from where I was but sure felt the winner wiggle excitedly! Look at the expression on his face (and the disappointment on the face of the boy next to him)! I was disappointed that a bright ray of sunshine showed up in the photos on my left – don’t let it distract you.
When it was the winner’s turn to read to Spirit, he brought his “puppy” in to help him read. I wasn’t able to get a decent photo of him using her (he said it was a she) help him point to the words as he read one book, but I did get a shot of him snuggling her against his cheek as he read a different book.
2/24/25 A Fun Letter from a Tongue River Elementary 4th Grader
when I went to Tongue River Elementary to do Reading Dog, the dogs’ mailbox held two letters. One of them was an invitation to visit a classroom. It was so cute I scanned it to share with you. The girl used a piece of really heavy construction paper to make it. She folded it carefully, including instructions to pull hard to open it. And I had to really pull! Here are both sides of it when it was still closed, and then once it was opened.
3/13/25 Our 3rd Paw Draw and Reading Dog at Holy Name School
We did our third Paw Draw, this one in honor of spring. The kindergarten class at Holy Name School is quite interesting, containing kids from – or whose parents are from – Viet Nam, the Philippines and the Ukraine. From an artist co-op named Serrv (that I LOVE!, www.serrv.org), I ordered a set of “Dancing Birds” which were handcrafted in the Philippines from natural Buri palm. They were the prize today. To give everyone an equal chance to win, for the first Paw Draw, I stood on the left end of the line of kids, and for the second Paw Draw, I stood on the right end. Each time, when I called her, Spirit started towards me, then diverted to the kids to give kisses. We had an obvious winner on the first Paw Draw, but on the second one I couldn’t see her feet because her tail was wagging so wildly. I thought her foot touched one napkin first, but the kids quite definitely told me I was wrong and showed me the napkin that Spirit touched first. No way were they going to let me make a mistake!
My friend, Denise, came to help and took photos to add to those that Emily, the teacher, took, so we have a lot more pictures of the Paw Draw than usual. AND she took photos of the four kids who read to Spirit after the Paw Draw. Thanks, Denise and Emily! I love seeing the expressions on the kids’ faces – and I’m too busy handling Spirit to notice while things are going on, so I treasure the photos.
Emily always comes in for her share of Spirit-love before we leave, along with some of the kids. Denise got a couple of photos of that, too.
I have ordered some pastel quilled Easter eggs from Serrv that are handcrafted in Viet Nam. We’ll do a Paw Draw for those during Holy Week.
I wish I could find a couple of little things from the Ukraine, but Serrv doesn’t serve artisans from there. A friend in Colorado is really interested in my therapy dog work and loved the palm-sized GSD stuffed toy that I ordered for the last Paw Draw. She ordered several little stuffed GSDs and sent them to me. Now we have enough prizes so each child in the class can win a prize before school is out.
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