What sort of books does your dog enjoy?

Here's a story for you, Barb, and all the other dog-lovers amongst us! Yesterday I read in the paper about Danny, a greyhound, who visits a school in Staffordshire as a "listening dog." Danny is part of a scheme that originated in the US called Reading Education Assistance Dogs which is designed to encourage young children to read aloud. "When children read to him, Danny does not criticise or correct their pronunciation," the article said. "He just nods and pricks up an ear, although sometimes he closes his eyes and appears not to be listening." (I think Danny is imagining himself right there in the story.) The scheme helps children develop their self-esteem in reading out loud because Danny is non-judgmental and never laughs at them. Many of the children show him the pictures in the book as they go along.

Danny had to train for five months to be a Listening Dog. Greyhounds are apparently well suited to being Listening Dogs because they don't bark and their short coats don't tend to trigger allergies. Here's Danny in the picture and you can see he is listening intently.

I think this is wonderful. My dog Monty frequently gets cast in the role of Listening Dog whether he likes it or not, usually when I'm pacing the floor trying to get a particular plot point or piece of dialogue right. He never complains, watches me intently, but occasionally rolls over and goes to sleep with a big sigh when he thinks I've been going on long enough. I think he'd make a great official Listening Dog but for the fact that he will bark when he sees a picture of a cat. Here is Monty listening to me reading to him from one of my books…

If you were going to read to a Listening Dog, what book would you choose? And what sort of dog do you thing would make the best listener?

©2011 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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