2024 Reading Dog Fun
September – December
We continue to do Reading Dog at Tongue River Elementary (pre-K through 6th grade) on Monday mornings. We are there two hours, so I take two dogs. Spirit, Hopeful and Lovely take turns doing Reading Dog there. So far this fall no one has taken any pictures. The school has a cute mailbox, which I check each Monday, but so far we haven’t received any letters from TRE students.
The 2024-2025 kindergarten class at Holy Name School is huge – 12 kids! Spirit and I do Reading Dog there every Thursday morning. At the beginning of the school year, I read to the child while he or she cuddles with Spirit, but by mid-October this bunch was already reading simple books to Spirit. AND writing letters to Spirit, who answers them on her own stationery.
Here is a letter Spirit received from a Holy Name Kindergartener on October 17th.
Here is a letter Spirit wrote to a different Holy Name Kindergartener on October 20th.
(See our firefighter adventure)
September 19 I had shirts made for each of my therapy dogs to wear during winter visits. I always try to wear cheerful colors to the nursing homes. I have lots of colorful t-shirts for warmer weather, but not many for cold weather. So I went down to Kilpatrick Creations and asked them if we could make shirts with a headshot of the dog and its name on the front and an action shot on the back – of light fabric like the t-shirts since the nursing homes are kept warm, but long-sleeved for comfort traveling to and from the home. We had our first chilly day on a Thursday, so I wore Spirit’s shirt to Holy Name School for Reading Dog. The kids loved it, so the teacher, Emily, took a photo of all of us.
See the shirts
October 31st Spirit dressed up as a jack-o-lantern this year (and I wore orange, too). We had extra fun because Halloween was actually on the day we do Reading Dog. We always take a photo of spirit in her Halloween costume. It was extra special this year because the kids were all in costumes, too!
You can see that costume better when Hopeful wore it while visiting the fire crews during our big wildfire in September and October.
November 21st I found the cutest turkey costume for the therapy dogs to wear to the schools and nursing homes during the week before Thanksgiving. I especially liked the tail, which consisted of four layers of felt “feathers.” The top feather layer was red, the second layer was light yellow, the third layer was dark yellow and the bottom layer was black. The Holy Name Kindergarten teacher took a photo of Spirit with the kids. Unfortunately, she was so focused making sure all the kids – and Spirit – were smiling that she didn’t get all of the tail in the picture, but you can see a little of it. AND you can see the head, beak and HUGE eyes, which really grabbed the kindergarteners’ attention. Those eyes made the kids’ eyes open wide when they realized what they were!
I came home from Reading Dog that day with 17 letters from the kids to Spirit! Each of the 12 kids wrote her a letter, while three wrote additional ones. Most of the letters were “cards,” folded in half. Some, but not all, of the kids drew on all four “pages” of the cards.
Abel only used two of the pages, but he had a fantastic drawing of him reading to Spirit,him kneeling by her side as she lay there on her blanket (which he didn’t draw). That much detail is unusual for kids this age. He had trouble writing his name at the top, so the teacher wrote it legibly so that Spirit knew who to write to. I had to put a piece of yellow paper underneath it when I scanned the pages, so they show up against the white background.
Adalyn’s card was quite creative, too, with her interacting with the dog – and it even looks like Spirit! I put red paper underneath hers when I scanned it.
Then there was Elsa’s card with a smiling GSD who seemed to be winking at us. Spirit does smile at the kids, so I was pleased to see the sparkle in “her” eyes in Elsa’s card. Elsa turned the “book” into a present, so cute. I put turquoise paper under Elsa’s card when I scanned it.
December 12th Before this week’s visit to the Holy Name School kindergarteners, their teacher told the kids that Spirit had a surprise for them. You should have seen their reaction when they saw Spirit’s costume. “Spirit is a present!,” they squealed, and raced to pet her.
December 16 And here is Spirit with the kids who participate in Reading Dog at Tongue River Elementary School in Ranchester. We go there on Mondays and are there for 2 hours, so I take 2 therapy dogs and each does an hour of listening. Three of my dogs do Reading Dog (Spirit, Lovely & Hopeful). Today happened to be Spirit’s and Lovely’s turn to go to TRE. When we arrived, our usual place in the teachers’ workroom was being used for the “Christmas store” where the kids can buy gifts for their family members, so they had us set up in the lobby. A colorful blanket defines the place for my dog and the kids choose where they want to sit, usually on bean bags. The staff carried one bean bag and one box of books to our new location and placed us near the Christmas tree. Then they decided to take photos, which made me super happy. We had a couple of regular readers whose teachers forgot to send them, but in our more- exposed place we had a couple of other kids come by and ask to pet the dog and have their picture taken. It was a fun morning.
Here is Lovely with “her” kids
January – May
January 25th We had so much fun celebrating Spirit/s birthday with the Holy Name School kindergarteners last year, that I decided to do it again this year for her 9th birthday. I made Elephant Ears, which are like squashed cinnamon rolls, for everyone. Before we ate them Emily, the teacher, led the class in singing Happy Birthday to Spirit. Spirit wasn’t too impressed with the serenade, instead concentrating on the Elephant Ears on the tables. Several of the photos caught her “Hurry up!!!!” look. The kids had all made birthday cards for Spirit, and you can see several of them holding those in the photos.
After our party, we did our usual Reading Sessions. One of the kids insisted that I take his photo with Spirit.
February 5th Spirit celebrated her 200th therapy dog visit this morning at Tongue River Elementary School. Berakah is the only other one of my therapy dogs to reach 200 visits. I spayed her at two years when she came down with pannus, so she had a long therapy dog career. I have several who made it over 100 (Chaos & Lively come to mind), but it’s hard for a dog to get 200 visits in when I have 4-6 certified therapy dogs at a time and they take turns doing visits. The breeding bitches, especially, seldom get to 200 because they miss so many possible visits while in heat, pregnant or lactating. And only the ones who participate in Reading Dog have much of a chance. Lovely, for instance, even with doing Reading dog at TRE, at 7 3/4 years has only 80 visits. Hopeful, who is spayed, already at 3 3/4 years has 94 visits in, so she has a chance to make it to 200. So for Spirit, who raised two litters, to get to 200 visits is absolutely fantastic!!!
One of the TRE staff members took photos of two sets of kids reading to Spirit. I took some of a third group.
April 25th I took photos at today’s Reading Dog session with the Holy Name School kindergarteners. They will vote on which photos will be used to create their own set of trading cards. I include the link to last year’s trading cards so that you get an idea.
See all of today’s photos
See the 2023 Kindergarten Trading Cards
April 30th Jamboree from the JJ litter (Spirit’s niece and Mercy’s sister) is also a Reading Dog. She lives in Sundance, WY. I recently added a bunch of photos of her doing Reading Dog to the litter page. Jamboree is also a service dog, competes in Nosework and was the only Court Advocate Dog in Wyoming until recently, when the program was, sadly, discontinued. Court Advocate Dogs go to court with a child when he or she must testify in an abuse or neglect case, offering comfort and courage when the child must tell of what he or she endured. We are VERY sorry that Wyoming didn’t pursue this service. See Jamboree’s Reading Dog photos. Also, see Jamboree’s trading cards.
May 13th The trading cards for the Holy Name School Kindergarteners are done!
See all the trading cards.
See the photos from which the kids picked their favorites for the trading cards.