Since his puppy days, Golden Retriever Samson has been an eager participant in a program custom-made to display the most admirable qualities of man’s best friend. He and volunteer Tricia Lowney of Fairfax Station, his owner, have participated in the popular “Read to the Dog” program at four local libraries since 2012.
Lowney and her husband introduced the program locally in 2007 with their previous dog, starting at Pohick Regional Library, after hearing about a comparable program at a library in Stafford.
“My husband and I have a niece and nephew in Stafford who both had some learning issues, and they had gone to a library with a dog there, so when they told us about it, we thought we would see if it could be a possibility here,” Lowney said. “However, that program was different from ours; whereas they brought a dog in and gathered the children around it, we bring in four or five dogs, and children come in and sit with individual dogs for 15 minutes and read to them.”
Lowney said the “Read to the Dog” program is part of voluntary organization “People Animals Love,” which allows dogs and their owners the opportunity to visit different locations, such as the Armed Forces Retirement Home, and provide inhabitants with a little extra canine companionship. She said dogs are also certified for “Read to the Dog” through “PAL,” going on visits to ensure they can follow basic commands and get along with people.
“The best thing about these visits is seeing the seniors emotionally react,” Lowney said. “You’re going into an environment where someone is completely inward, then you pick up their hand and put it on a dog, and their eyes light up. There’s a smile in their eyes.”
Lowney said children’s reactions to “Read to the Dog” events are near universally positive, and because of the progress many of them show between multiple events, she does not see herself stopping participation in them in the foreseeable future.
“You can see physical and emotional changes in the children who participate; you’ll have a child come in and they’re whispering with no volume, and when this happens, I’ll take Sammy’s ear, lift it up and say ‘Oh, he can’t hear you,’” Lowney said. “After a while, their volume comes up, their confidence comes up, their reading potential and skills increase, they’ll even bring in more advanced books to read. The most important thing is that there’s no judgment; if they get the words wrong, Samson doesn’t care, and it’s just wonderful.”