We had the most interesting experience last Saturday. The Allen Public Library was having a storytime. So what’s so interesting about that, you ask? Well, it has to do with who was doing the reading…and who was being read to.
Or rather, what was being read to.
Our kids were doing the reading. That’s not so interesting, unless you happen to be the proud parent of one of the readers.
But they were reading their stories to…dogs. Yes, that’s right. Our kids read to Texas Therapy Dogs.
Each owner brought their dog (and there were 6 total) and a blanket for the children to sit on. Most of the owners also brought a collection of books of varying levels for the readers to choose from, but some chose to read their own. Trey settled down on his blanket and got started right away.
His dog was very low key and relaxed, and Trey was even able to pet him while he read.
The dog seemed especially thrilled to look at the pictures in Trey’s book.
But the owner was always close by, just to keep an eye on things in case the dog got, you know, out of control.
Crisana’s dog was a different story, no pun intended. She was one of the last to enter the room and as a result was not able to choose her dog. Her dog ended up being a rather young (2-year-old) standard poodle…just one big bundle of curls and excitement. For a girl that’s a little nervous around dogs to begin with – even her own – this was shaping up to be an interesting experience.
She began bravely enough, using her book as a kind of buffer between her and the dog.
But soon, with all his wiggling and curiosity, that wasn’t enough and Mom was needed to come help save the day.
Even so, she was still a little skittish when her dog would get excited.
After about 10 minutes of reading, our time was up. We said good bye to our dogs, collected various souvenirs and mementos from the owners, packed up our books and headed home. It was a unique experience that our kids will remember forever!