If your child is looking for a chance to practice their reading skills, and would like to do it with a furry friend, the Reading Tails program might be for them.

Put on by the Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch and the Central Alberta Humane Society, Reading Tails is a 3 to 4 week program for kids’ age six to 12 who would like to practice their reading skills with a trained therapy dog and its handler.

Youth Services Coordinator with the Downtown Library Deb Isbister says this program is designed for kids who already know how to read, but may not enjoy it, making it harder to improve their skills.

“Pairing them with a dog that is a really good listener and it lowers their heart rate just petting their dog and being around them, it suddenly changes their view of reading altogether.”

She says there is call to find more people willing to train their canines to become therapy dogs, which is done through the Central Alberta Humane Society.

“Some of the handlers and their dogs will go to the college, for example, during study period times when it’s really stressful for the students and they can just go and hang out with these therapy dogs. And they’ve gone to some of the high schools, some of them go to the hospitals, and palliative care, it’s such a valuable program.”

The program is in need of more volunteer dogs to participate, as there is a wait list of kids eager to read with their furry friends.

Handlers and their dogs must complete a short training program through the Humane Society in order to qualify.

For more information on how to register your child for the class, or to get you and your dog certified to participate, you can email Deb at disbister@rdpl.org