Reading Dogs Bhalu, Wasabi and Ramadi

We made some new reading dog friends over the last few weeks. We were lucky enough to welcome Bhalu, Ramadi and Wasabi to our library. All students in Grades 1 through 5 have now had the opportunity to read and interact with a dog buddy. And, students in K1 and K2 are having their experiences this week.

We asked students to reflect on their experiences with the Reading Dogs. We asked them questions such as, "How did the experience make you feel? What did you think about? What do you want to know next?" We gathered responses and feedback in a variety of ways - some with sticky notes, some drawings, and some through a survey.

Here's what some of our students had to say:

And, straight from our Grade 4 and 5 survey were some comments that show what the reading dogs experience has meant for many of our students:

What did you like about the Reading Dogs program?

• I loved how Ginger was all calm and quiet while we were reading to her.
• I loved the dog reading session because Millie was very calm and friendly.
• I like that we get to touch the dog while we get to read.
• I liked how you could pet and feed the dog
• The dog was very calm.
• What I like is we got a long time with the dogs!
• I liked how at the end you could do tricks with them and they would listen to you when you read.
• What I liked about the time was that we got to pet the dog and read witch is an awesome combo.
• I liked how the dog listened carefully to us and that the dog was calm. I really enjoyed it.
• I really like reading dog session because its fun!
• Bhalu is very huggable and relieved all my bad thoughts.
• How they didn't judge us😁 GO WASABI🐶🍣

How did the program help you?

• I felt comfortable reading in front of other people.
  
• They actually made me more confident in my reading.
• In reading calmly.
• It made me read more fluently.
  
• It helped me because when i was reading it payed attention . Another reason is Ginger did not judge me if i got something wrong.
  
• Ginger made me more comfortable to read because he was very calm.
  
• Bhalu helped me calm down☼
  
• Because now I feel like I could read to my dog.
  
• It helped me boost up my confidence with reading in front of a lot of people.✦❤︎
  
• I think it helped me because I was not good at reading aloud but it made me feel better.
  
• He warmed my heart and relieved my stress.
  
• Helped us encourge reading, GO TEAM WASABI🐶🍣
  
• I have never read to a dog before. I have had a dog but I didn't think my dog would understand. But When I read to ginger, It was really fun!
  
• It helped me keep calm and focus.