Do you know what my favorite kind of activism is?
The kind that ingeniously fills more than one need at once. That's why I love this program at the Humane Society of Missouri so much.
It's called the The Book Buddies Shelter Pet Reading Program.
The website states:
"Reading to the dogs helps to bring comfort to and reduce the anxiety of shelter pets, and it nurtures empathy in children.
A win/win!
So let's see what this looks like in action!
The Book Buddies Shelter Pet Reading Program trains children to read to dogs who need more socialization before finding a forever home.
The program also helps the children, ages 6-15, hone their reading skills!
The children are also taught to read a dog's body language to see if they're stressed or anxious.
This is crucial to developing healthy human-animal relationships and learning empathy.
All reading takes place outside the kennels, just like this:
The children and animals are kept completely safe at all times. After the 10-hour training session, the children are allowed to return with a parent at any time to read to the dogs.
If a particularly spooked or timid dog approaches the window during the session, the child tosses in a treat for reinforcement.
The dogs learn to trust, maybe for the first time in their lives.
Program director Jo Klepacki says the program is "encouraging children to develop empathy with animals. It's a peaceful, quiet exercise. They're seeing fearfulness in these animals, and seeing the positive [effect] they can have ... It encourages them to look at things from an animal's perspective. That helps them better connect with animals and people in their lives."
I couldn't agree more. All Humane Societies should have a program like this one.
Main and collage image via YouTube / hsmolovesanimals
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