Animal Humane Society Connects Pets with Young Readers
An animal shelter may not be the first place you think of to curl up with a book. But leaders at the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley think it’s the perfect place.
“We try as hard as we can to make it calming, and to make it soothing for them,” said Rachel Dashiell, the Animal Humane Society‘s community program manager. “But there’s a lot of people here. A lot of smells, a lot of sounds.”
That chaos is exactly why AHS’ Rescue Readers is a great program for shelter pets, said Dashiell. Anyone ages 4 and up can come in and read stories to the animals.
Most of the day, Dashiell said animals are being visited and considered for adoption. While pets are being read to, they can sit in their space however they wish.
“It’s a great time for them to just kind of sit and relax. It’s a program where we aren’t focusing on petting or handling animals. They’re really just relaxing and listening to our voices,” Dashiell said.
The program is in AHS’ Golden Valley, Coon Rapids and Woodbury locations.
“A lot of our readers are young. Kids who are learning to read, kids who just want to practice reading aloud. It’s great for them to just practice sounding out words with a listener who isn’t going to judge them. Who doesn’t care how they pronounce words, if they skip a word, if they mix something up,” Dashiell explained.
Harper Biscay reads a book to one of the attentive shelter cats.
Good Practice
Though a lot of the rescue readers are kids, adults can do it too. Some come accompanying their children, like Jacob Dashiell, who brought in his daughter. This time, he did most of the reading alongside her.
“I think it’s great that you can just bring kids in, and get to interact with these animals that need homes,” Jacob Dashiell said. “It gives them a great opportunity to get that human interaction that they need.”
Still, it’s popular for kids. Eight-year-old Harper Biscay’s been going to Rescue Readers for a year and a half to get her animal fix. She said she likes to read to the dogs and cats.
“Well, I like to be with the animals here, and I like to see them and make them happy, because then they are more relaxed,” Biscay said.
Dashiell said one of her favorite things about the program is how the animals relax. Sometimes, she said, they put their paws up against their kennels. Others fall asleep.
More details about Rescue Readers program are available on the Animal Humane Society website. Some upcoming dates are listed, and people can register for them online.
Jacob Dashiell reads “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” with his daughter for some shelter animals.
