{"id":1650,"date":"2017-04-20T05:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T05:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aercmn.com\/?p=1650"},"modified":"2017-04-20T05:00:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T05:00:49","slug":"what-is-r-e-a-d-dogs-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aercmn.com\/blog\/what-is-r-e-a-d-dogs-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"What is R.E.A.D. Dogs Minnesota?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readdogsmn.org\/\">Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.)<\/a>\u00a0designed to improve children\u2019s literacy through the reading of books to a dog. The program has demonstrated that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>students who continuously read to the animals often show improvement in reading, communication, and comprehension skills.<\/li>\n<li>a child\u2019s self-esteem and social skills can also improve.<\/li>\n<li>as a student reads to an animal, the student pets the dog and relaxes, causing oxytocin within the brain to flow. The fluency needed to read aloud occurs more easily.<\/li>\n<li>a child\u2019s confidence in reading aloud to a nonjudgmental listener (in this case, a dog) often transfers to other arenas such as public speaking or reading enjoyment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>R.E.A.D. dogs must be registered therapy animals that volunteer in libraries and schools with their handler. The therapy animal approval process tests the health and temperament of the dog to ensure he\/she is safe to interact with children.<\/p>\n<p>Does this program seem like something you would like to pursue with your pet? First, you\u2019ll want to consider if your pet is suited to the task. A good therapy animal is calm and can deal with unexpected happenings like loud noises. He\/she will need solid obedience skills as well. In addition, your dog will need to be able to be in a room with many students and be around other animals. Ongoing commitments include continued training and regular grooming.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1651 alignright\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/R_E_A_D_-photo-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>As for your part in the R.E.A.D. team, it is essential that you are professional, enjoy being around children, love reading, and are willing to make a time commitment to a library or school.<\/p>\n<p>The next step will be to take a R.E.A.D. workshop class or a self-study program. The Reading Education Assistance Dogs MN\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.readdogsmn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/READdogsMN\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0can provide you with more information.<\/p>\n<p>Becoming part of a R.E.A.D. team is a\u00a0wonderful way to help the students in your community. R.E.A.D. also accepts donations; these are a great way to honor a beloved pet or friend. Donations are used to offset the cost of R.E.A.D. events.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your interest in this program! \u00a0You may wish to check out your local libraries and schools to see if any R.E.A.D. dogs already make visits. Some programs have names like, \u201cPaws to Read\u201d or \u201cWaggin\u2019 Tails.\u201d Look for specifics on your library&#8217;s website!<\/p>\n<p>Written by\u00a0Connie Priesz\u00a0with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/connie%20priesz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">R.E.A.D. Dogs Minnesota<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.)\u00a0designed to improve children\u2019s literacy through the reading of books to a dog. The program has demonstrated that: students who continuously read to the animals often show improvement in reading, communication, and comprehension skills. a child\u2019s self-esteem and social skills can also improve. as a student reads to an animal, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is R.E.A.D. 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