As Regina Ernest peered through the glass insert in a door of the east Columbia library Saturday, she looked in on a sight that a few months ago would have made her skin crawl: her 10-year-old son, Matthew, snuggling up to a big black Labrador named Taylor.
And she was thrilled - not so much because it meant she and her son were overcoming their fear of dogs (Matthew was attacked three years ago by an American bulldog), but because it meant he was learning to enjoy reading.
"This is the first time he's ever passed up something else to read a book," Ernest said.
Matthew is taking part in the DEAR program, which stands for Dogs Educating and Assisting Readers. It pairs struggling elementary-school readers with at least one dog and its owner to practice reading aloud to the animal.
It works, organizers say, because kids can relax around the dogs, which are less intimidating than a parent or a teacher might be.
"The dogs don't really judge you or anything," said 8-year-old Elizabeth McCague from Columbia, who was reading to a rather large (and lazy) audience of three collies. "They just listen."
The kids meet Saturday mornings at the library for a 45-minute session with their assigned dog. After warming up with treats and tricks, they settle on floor mats to tackle a chosen book. Often, the dogs cozy up to the readers and doze. Some, who have been trained that books hold treats, appear to hang on every word.
Handlers help by making flashcards of difficult words (such as "assignment" and "circular," which are on 9-year-old Nicholas Bravo's list), suggesting ways to "help the dog understand" and generally keeping the pace.
The combination - canines, kids and books - is part of a trend, with programs popping up in states including Washington, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico and now Maryland. It's having great success, with kids who hated reading before seeking it out as a pastime, according to Sandi Martin of Salt Lake City.
It started three years ago after Martin woke up in the middle of the night with an epiphany.
"I literally sat bolt upright in bed" with the idea to use dogs to help kids practice reading, she said. "The timing was just right."
Martin is a nurse at University of Utah Hospital, but she is also on the board of directors of Intermountain Therapy Animals (www.therapyanimals.org), which specializes in bringing animal assistance to people in need.
She had been talking with other members of ITA about the negative similarities - low self-esteem, anxiety, frustration - among children with developmental challenges, be they physical, mental or emotional. She and the others noted how all those things disappeared when a therapy animal was introduced.
At some time during the night, she said, her subconscious told her therapy dogs might help kids with reading challenges, too.
After convincing others at ITA and her local library that it was not as nutty as it sounded, Martin started what she says is the first dogs-and-kids reading program, called READ (Reading Education Assistance Dogs), in Salt Lake City in fall 1999.
Idea spreads
Today, all Salt Lake City libraries have READ teams working every Saturday, and other Utah cities have adopted the process as well. Many local elementary schools are on board, too.
Once word started to spread, Martin got calls from people in other states and even countries, including Saudi Arabia and South Africa, who wanted to know how they could start a program.
Dog lover Laurie Hardy, who lives in Riverdale Park, called from Maryland. After getting a crash course from Martin, she got the ball rolling on DEAR.
"Kids and dogs just seem to go together in my head," said Hardy, who is hoping to put together a summer camp based on DEAR next year.
The DEAR dogs are all therapy dogs, trained by Laurel-based Fidos for Freedom, a nonprofit group that teaches the animals to aid people with limited mobility, hearing troubles or the blues. The latter is the role of the therapy dogs, which act as general do-gooders and spend much of their time visiting nursing homes and hospitals and, most recently, listening to children read.
Special temperament
The dogs and handlers are all carefully selected by temperament and ability and trained on how to best help challenged readers, says Hardy, who is also Fidos for Freedom's therapy dog coordinator.
The east Columbia library, which implemented DEAR in March, works mainly with recommended third-graders from Dasher Green Elementary School in Columbia (except for Matthew, who goes to Fulton Elementary).
Emily Kita, Dasher Green's reading specialist, says it has made a world of difference for the kids.
"They absolutely love it. I have seen a lot of students whose whole attitude has changed," she says. On average, participants have improved their reading by two levels, Kita says. "They're not afraid to read out loud anymore, they're raising their hands in class, they're really excited about reading."
Hope Chase, the youth services department head for Howard County libraries, is looking to expand the program countywide if funding and enough volunteers can be found.
The current session ends June 29, and the next will not start until fall.
Ernest said she and Matthew, who just completed fourth grade, are going to miss the program. They might have to get a dog of their own.
"He's gotten so much out of it," she said. "He now asks what words mean when he doesn't understand. He's really trying. He's really interested."
For information about DEAR: Fidos for Freedom, 410-880-4178 or online at www.fidosforfreedom.com.