The library dog gets an honor

Recently the library where Devon serves as "Library Dog" and does the children's reading program gave her an honor. They purchased three library books in Devon's honor. I was so touched by this, and they even made these the featured books during National Library Week in April.

The books are: Nubs, the True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle; Ivan the Terrier; and How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? Nubs is the touching real-life story of a wild dog bonding with a Marine and how because of the dog's heart and dedication, he found a way to get Nubs back to the United States. It's a touching story, and shows how dedicated we can be to our four-legged friends because they show us the same unconditional love first.

Ivan the Terrier and How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? are both funny children's stories. That Ivan reinforces my belief that there will never be a terrier in my house! And I now know you should give dinosaurs an extra thorough review if you ever let them take care of a dog! Some of them aren't very nice!

Attached to each book is a sticker saying the book was purchased in honor of Devon the Library Dog and it has her photo. This is such a touching thing for the library to do. I am an avid reader because my mom took the time to make sure it was something I did and enjoyed. As far back as I can remember, my mom was checking out books like these from the library. And like many kids across the country, I did the library's summer reading program each year. That's why I'm so glad these fun and educational stories will be at our town's library for years to come. And if Devon inspires kids to read, all the better! She gets her rewards -- she's in it for the belly rubs!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Devon was Library Dog on Thursday evening, and she got an early Valentine. A really cute red-headed little boy with big brown eyes made Devon a Valentine. He made sure to choose a pink arrow (not a blue one, she's a girl!). He chose several heart stickers to decorate his Valentine, plus a red high-heeled shoe and a bus. Devon accepted her Valentine and brought it back to me to carry home and put on the refrigerator.

Devon's 5-star day

For the last two months, Devon has been "Library Dog" every Thursday evening. Her duties include wagging her tail and asking for pets from anyone she comes in contact with, and listening to children read. Some weeks we have a dozen or more kids who come to see her, and other weeks it's light and only one or two kids come by.

This week, Devon played hostess to 8 children, with six of them staying the entire hour! The kids read to her, petted her and did craft projects. Devon even got to say hello to an almost 1-year-old girl who walked up to Devon and grabbed her muzzle to look up to her. I was so amazed by Devon's reaction to this very little girl. She was very gentle and even laid down to give the little girl a better advantage for petting her.

The highlight of the evening was when the kids came over to present some craft projects to Devon. The kids laughed and cheered when Devon took their projects in her mouth and brought them to me. Devon was even presented with a paper airplane! The kids loved her "tricks" so much, one presented her with a star on her forehead. And since there were five colors of stars, Devon had to do four more tricks to earn a star in every color.

The photo here shows a very tired Devon ready to leave the library with her 5 stars on her head and carrying her new paper airplane. I told her she looked like Wonder Woman! Devon wore her stars proudly the rest of the evening. I found one on the kitchen floor, one was in Page's fur, another ended up on my shoulder and the other two were lost outside in the dark. The Library Dog slept very well Thursday evening!

Devon gets a gift

Devon continues her role as Library Dog, and she's really enjoying it. She now knows how to lay down next to the kids as they read. As she waits for the kids, she lays in her blanket, usually with ears perked and when they walk in she keeps herself low but wags her tail furiously at them to invite them in.

Last night was particularly fun. One boy wanted to come and say hello. He petted Devon and she laid her head beside him. He told me he thought she wanted her belly rubbed, so he moved into position to do that. Devon reached out her paw and touched his arm when he stopped petting her. His mother said he could come back next week, and I told him he could read to her. He said he couldn't read, and I told him if he got a book with lots of pictures he could make up his own story and those were better anyway. He kissed Devon on the top of the head and told her he loved her when he left.

Another girl took her time and needed help, but she was able to read an entire book. She was so proud of herself, and we celebrated each time she read a complete sentence on her own. After she completed her craft, she came back in to say good-bye to Devon.

And sweetest of all was a little girl we met last week. She and her sister came into read to Devon. They both had their finished craft project, which was a dog house with Devon's name on it glued to black construction paper with multi-colored stars to light Devon's way. After the girls read to Devon, one handed me her craft project. I asked, "Is this for me?" Very sincerely I was told, "No! It's for DEVON!" Of course it was; how silly! I'm just the transportation! Devon's gift is now proudly displayed on our refrigerator where she can look at it often.

We're off again!

We're off for another weekend of hunt tests. Devon's had a good week of training. We focused on blinds and lining this week. One thing I'd like to improve is Devon's bad habit of flaring off the line on water blinds. I hate having to give her an over into the water just to get her swimming.

I also re-learned (how long will it take me) that when Devon is spiraling down the drain and ignoring my casts giving her a correction only makes things worse. Instead, I need to calmly walk out to her, re-sit her from her last failure, walk back and recast her. This requires a lot of walking on my part, but it settles her into working with me again and it's plenty of "correction" of her. We have not yet had this problem in a hunt test (I'm knocking on wood right now), but I have had it happen several times in training. I guess I'll have to invest in hip waders for water...

I took this photo of Devon this week at a place we train. I've always thought this rock with the blue sky would give a lovely backdrop. Devon is such a pretty dog.

Page turned 7 months old on Thursday. She's starting to fill out (but has a long way to go), and she's about the same height as Devon. I think she might be entering another fear period. On Wednesday she shied away from a decoy in water that moved with the wind as she approached it. This was completely new for Page, who has always been bold or ignored decoys in the past. She worked through it and retrieved bumpers around this decoy, but she "forgot" how to get back into the water after she retrieved her bumper probably due to the decoy concern.

After some land retrieves, Page easily went in and out of the pond at another location and retrieved in and around lilies and other decoys. A friend told me later her dog didn't like that particular decoy either. She said it was lighter than the other decoys and had a pointy head and tail. Who knew dogs were so particular about decoys?

Page also accomplished retrieving a real duck out of water. It was hand thrown by me, so pretty short retrieves. Next week we'll work someone else throwing a duck in water and up on the opposite shore. I don't think this will be too hard for her. What has been our biggest challenge with real birds is Page taking a victory lap with them and not wanting to retrieve to hand immediately.

Yesterday Page got a nice TD track. After tracking, she and Devon got a massage by good friend Sheree. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed their treatment and thought if they continued to hang out on the massage table they might get more. Sheree said both girls were powerfully build and had incredible muscles. Not surprising with all the field and tracking they do!

After a busy day of training and errands, Devon again spent time as library dog last night. The library was packed last night, and there were kids everywhere! Devon was in her glory being petted and surrounded by kids. But as the evening went by, three times she laid her head next to or on the lap of a reading child and let out a big contented sigh! Life sure is exhausting for a "girl on the go!"

Devon the library dog goes to preschool reading time

This month Devon is the "library dog" again. We haven't been to the library since April, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't forget how fun it was. I was right.

This month we're attending the preschool reading time. We arrived 10 minutes early, and we met a family of three children in the entrance. Right away they said, "Hey it's her! It's the library dog!" Devon was in heaven. She "talked" to all of them and got her first pets. Once downstairs in the Children's area, she was swamped with kids wanting to pet her and talk with her.

Chrissy introduced Devon and we sat at the front of the room. The kids were in a semicircle around us. Chrissy talked about how reading to dogs is beneficial, and then I told a little about Devon. She sat quietly through all of this talk, wagging at each child and "smiling."

Once Chrissy began to read, Devon started working the crowd in front of her. She went forward and sat in front of the kids and they gave her lots of pets. But Devon had an even better idea! She laid down and put her head in one boy's lap, then put her toy in the next boy's lap and rolled over into the laps of three kids sitting in the front row! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the three kids who were rubbing Devon's belly, the proud boy who said Devon asked him to hold her toy for her, or Devon whose eyes were closed in pure joy. I'm not sure there's any dog who loves a belly rub more than her!

After a few minutes, one of the girls got my attention and pointed to her foot with big eyes. Devon was laying across her leg, and the poor girl's foot was going to sleep! Guess I have to watch out for that in the future!

Then another boy from the other side crawled over to tell me his side hadn't seen her as much as the other side had. So I got up and we went to see those kids. After reading two books, Chrissy said we could sit up front and each child could have their special time with Devon and then choose a dog book to check out of the library.

Devon greeted each child specially. She was so good with the few who weren't really sure of dogs. The thing that impressed me was how she handled the children who wanted to hug her. I knew she could handle this because it was something that she was tested on. And she thought it was great, even when one boy laid his head on hers and gave her kisses.

And the kids weren't the only ones who wanted to see Devon. The adult volunteers all made sure to pass through the room to say hello. One volunteer even gave Devon a hug, and when Devon melted into her, the volunteer said, "She's hugging me back!"

Two boys stayed after to read to Devon. She enjoys the one on one time, but I think she still believes she needs to "do" something with them instead of just settling in and listening. Next time I'll tell them it helps her listen if they pet her and see if she'll settle with that.

I've never had an hour go by so fast or had Devon enjoy something more ... okay ducks are high on her priority list, too. But Devon is a gifted therapy dog. It made me realize that if all this competition stuff goes away tomorrow, Devon's real joy in life would be to visit people. Devon wouldn't miss any of it as long as she could go do her therapy work and make people happy.

Devon the library dog

Tonight was Devon's first official night as the Library Dog. I thought it was a big success, and I'm very happy we spent time preparing Devon for her new "job."

Last week we had a "dry run" with some volunteer children. I was very glad for this rehearsal, because while Devon really enjoyed the children, she wasn't quite sure what to do when they settled down to read. She fidgeted and even volunteered several behaviors (it shouldn't surprise anyone she was foot smacking the chair legs). 

To Devon's credit, she also had quite an audience for her practice session. A reporter from the local paper came to do a preview story. She was wonderful and took lots of photos, as did Chrissy who is in charge of the children's programs for the library. Devon loved to mug for the camera! Finally, by the third child, Devon either got the idea or she was so tired she ran out of things to wiggle about. 

This practice session prepared Devon for what to expect this week. Chrissy had a great activity for the kids while they were waiting. They made picture frames out of colored paper, and she took a photo of each child with Devon. Chrissy realized that Devon notices everything in her environment, so we decided to take the photos before the kids started reading so Devon could focus on the children. The photo allowed the kids to meet Devon, get comfortable with her, then set about choosing a book and reading.

Last week, the story of the library's new program ran on the front page of the paper with the photo here on the blog. Zoe and Janet Ripley also attended the practice session and had their photo in the paper; unfortunately they couldn't be at the sessions this week. 

With the added publicity, I wondered if we'd be swamped with kids. As I pulled up to the library, every side of the street was full of cars, as was the bank parking lot next door. I really hoped this wasn't for our program! I got Devon out of the car, gave her a toy to carry and we were off to the library. Devon was very excited and trotted with purpose and a wagging tail right to the door!

As Devon trotted downstairs to the children's area, I heard cries of, "She's here! It's her, the library dog!"Devon was in her glory! She was surrounded by kids and adults all wanting to pet her. She talked and wagged her tail and leaned into each one of them. One eager boy threw his arms around her and give her a big hug, which she promptly returned!

Once her adoring fans were greeted, we moved into our room and got settled with her blanket. Over the PA system, they announced that the library's therapy dog was in the building and was starting to listen to children read. I have to admit I got a little misty when that happened. And then they came, one by one, to sit and read to Devon.

Devon was a trooper tonight. We allowed each child 10 minutes of reading time. Some kids got through their books quickly and wanted to play with Devon. Others wanted to chat about their pets or ask questions about Devon. One boy told me the story of how his father came to the United States from Honduras. Even though he told me he didn't read well, he was actually one of the better readers. Another boy brought his own book to read and petted Devon's head as he read.

After getting through her fidgets for the first 2-3 kids, Devon did very well. I started having some of the kids throw her toy if they wanted, and this was a good idea. She got the hang of returning it to them (and not me or their parents). She was very gentile and gave the toy on command and never jumped on the kids. After about 5 kids, we took a break and got her outside and let her potty. The fresh air was good and she did the rest of the evening without any more breaks. 

After 90 solid minutes, the last child came through. I lost count, but I think she saw 12-15 children. She ended the evening with a long belly rub from one of the volunteers. We called it her massage/spa treatment after her long session of volunteering.

I'm really proud of this girl. She did a fantastic job in her first official therapy dog role. I can't wait to see what Saturday holds, but I know she's going to be great!

Becoming a children's reading dog

Devon passed her Delta Society Pet Partners evaluation last  year shortly after she turned 2 years old, and I completed my testing shortly after that. We've been searching for a way to use Devon's abilities as a therapy dog. She is especially good with children, so I was hoping to get involved that way.

Well, instead of waiting for a program to come to us, one day on a whim I asked at my local library if they had a program. Turns out, they were wanting to start one and didn't know how to find a dog! In 2 weeks Devon will launch the library's program to improve children's reading skills. Based on advice from the Gaylan's family and especially Anita, Devon and I are preparing for her first session. 

Here's what we're doing:

1. I'm shaping Devon to lay on a special blanket. My mom got Devon a very cute blanket that was handmade by one of the ladies in her church. It's quilted fleece, and it is red with black paw prints on one side and a variety of dog themed fabrics on the other side in white, red and blue. Devon figured out very quickly that she was to lay down on it, after first trying to sit and then (you guessed it) use her paws to paw at it. Anita also says that the blanket alerts Devon to what is expected and that only Devon and the child share the blanket. I think this will go a long way to cuing Devon she's supposed to settle and go into therapy mode.
2. Teaching Devon to nose touch the book. I'm teaching her to touch the book so when a child points out something in the book to Devon, she will nose touch the book as if she's looking at what the child wants to show her. I'm shaping this with me pointing to the book. I hope to be able to say to the child, "Show Devon the (an object) on the page" and have the child point to the book and Devon nose touch.
3. Anita also suggests that I not be afraid to interrupt and lean over as if I'm listening to Devon and say, "Devon doesn't understand what (such and such in the book) is. Can you explain what that is to her?" Or I could say, "Devon thinks it's funny when you make that sound, can you do it again?" I think I need to be careful it's not the sound of a motorboat, or Devon might sail into the puppy zoomies!

As Anita said, the goal of the program is to make reading fun for the children. Studies show reading to an animal can improve children's reading ability. Based on Devon's skill with children, I think she's going to really enjoy this!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to take the blanket and book to a new location and practice. On Saturday, Devon will take her first tour of the library, and we'll take our blanket and book and practice where she will be doing the program. Next week we're practicing with a few children, before the first formal program on National Library Week.

So, get out a good book and read to your dog! Devon recommends Blue's Clues!