Jacqui Wilson is a trained teacher and illustrator. She also owns a very special dog named Willow. Willow had not had a very good start in life when Jacqui found her on a dog rescue website. Willow was still a puppy and had some serious skin problems. Despite this, when Jacqui met Willow for the first time, she found the young puppy to be good natured and intelligent.
Rather than being kept as just a pet, Willow was soon put into training with a charity called Dogs Helping Kids (DHK). DHK uses highly trained dogs to help teach children in schools. Willow spent two years learning how to help children to read.
We all know that dogs don’t actually read, so how could a dog help? Willow learnt a variety of different techniques that could make children feel more confident with their reading. For example, Willow learnt how to rest her head on a child’s knee when the child was reading aloud. Willow would follow the book’s pages by moving her head. It looked as if she was actually listening and following the book!
Children are also able to hold flashcards in front of Willow. Each flashcard has an instruction for Willow to follow such as ‘SIT’, ‘STAND’ or ‘SPIN’. Willow has been trained to follow each instruction without any prompt. The children are always amazed to see her do this and it makes reading sessions much more fun.
Jacqui has said that she noticed children always responded well to Willow. They seemed more relaxed and were able to concentrate for longer periods of time. This has been especially useful for students who find reading difficult or boring.
The students also learn how to respond to Willow. They learn how to show respect and kindness to their furry friend. After 15 minutes of reading with Willow, the students are able to help teach Willow new tricks.
DHK has many dogs working in different schools in England – Willow is just one of them. The charity’s hope is that one day it will have at least one dog in every school and library throughout the country.
Reading to dogs can help build confidence:
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