Dogs...Reading, Healing and Kids
The wonderful healing effect that dogs have on people is an important element in our Planet Of The Dogs series.
In the first book, humans have never seen dogs before and are suspicious and wary of these animal creatures. However, Bella, the healer lady, knows about dogs and their unconditional loyalty and love for people and puts them with people in need of support and healing. Many live far from the farm home of the dogs, but neither distance nor bad weather deters thems from their healing visits. Word soon spreads through Green Valley of their work as healers. This, as well as their abilities as working dogs on the farm, begins to change the attitudes toward the dogs in Green Valley begin to shift.
Healing Dogs Today
Today, the use of therapy dogs is expanding, as the benefits of the human-canine bond become more widely known. Helping children to read, comforting the ill and infirm and often helping them to heal, bringing non-judgemental friendship, are all regular activities for therapy dogs. And they come in all shapes and sizes.
We learned of Comfort Caring Canines (www.comfortcaringcanines.org) through
member Jodi Buyounoski, owner of Bella, the therapy dog on the left. The fact that the healer lady in Planet Of The Dogs has the same name is pure coincidence.
Bella is a regular visitor to hospitals and nursing homes and once a year she works as a reading dog with the children at Fitzwater Elementary school in Willowgrove, PA. Jodi wrote,"It is extremely rewarding to see a child's eye light up as he/she reads a book and shares the enthusiasm with a furry friend....both the child and the dog seem to enjoy each other's company..."
Comfort Caring Canines has this summary on their website: "When our therapy dogs visit a healthcare facility, a senior citizen center or a school, they can...
- Calm a hyperactive child or stimulate
a withdrawn patient or older adult - Provide a welcome change from daily routine
- Help to relieve loneliness and depression
- Facilitate conversation and interaction
- Lower a patient's blood pressure and heart rate
- Stimulate minds, lift spirits and spark memories
- Create some fun!"
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The 2011 Annual MLA Conference: Join Forces is taking place at the Crowne Plaza in Danvers MA on April 26-29. A focus of this years convention: The Future of Libraries.
If you are a librarian at the conference, please visit theAssociated Book Exhibit at Booth 51 and see our Planet Of The Dogs series...You can read sample chapters and preview our books with a visit to our website: www.planetofthedogs.net.
As members of IPNE, the Independent Publishers of New England, and based in Marblehead, MA, we salute the MLA.
All ALA members receive a full professional discount on our books from Ingram.
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Tutors with a Tail...
Therapy Dogs United (TDU) has an awesome therapy dog reading program (see information from their website below).
They also also work with therapy dogs in programs that reach homeless shelters, senior and nursing communities, hospice facilities, family service organizations, reading clubs, rehabilitation centers, and beyond. Their services extend throughout North Western Pennsylvania and Western New York state.
Dogs Rule in School
"Did you know that our therapy dogs rule in School? Right now, we have 8 certified therapy dogs working once a week in the Erie City, Erie County and Regional Charter school districts. Five of those dogs work full time, meaning they go to school each and every day with their volunteer handler!And that's not all...our "Tutors with a Tail" program also takes us to every school in the City of Erie, Erie County School District, Blasco Memorial Library, the Erie County Library System on a regular basis. Our "Tutors with a Tail" program has proven success and our improved reading scores tell the story! In a pilot study with 3rd grade students, our reading levels increased to 38 words per minute -- compared to an average of 27 words per minute -- when the student read to a certified therapy dog."
A year ago, I asked Pat Van Zandt Christianson, Executive director of Therapy Dogs United for a comment on the concept of kids reading dog books to dogs...
." Regarding added value - yes.
Handing a child a canine-themed book not only reinforces our mission but helps with top of the mind awarness. We believe if they are reading about dogs in their off-time, they are more likley to show kindness and compassion toward our canine friends when we make a scheduled visit."
http://www.therapydogsunited.org/programs/dogs_rule_in_school/
If you have a therapy reading dog, we will send you a complimentary copy of one or more of our books. Email us at [email protected].
We support therapy reading dog programs in 13 states...Let's read dog books to Dogs!
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Coffee with A Canine...
I was interviewed recently on Coffee with a Canine...the editor, Marshal Zeringue, is an advocate for literature, reading, books and dogs...we will report in our next blog on his several related sites...meanwhile, here is the URL for Coffee With A Canine:
http://coffeecanine.blogspot.com/2011/04/robert-mccarty-dafi-and-nemo.html
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For Law Students With Everything, Dog Therapy for Stress...
If your lawyer seems stressed out, perhaps you could tell them what Blair Kauffman, librarian at the Yale Law School said about therapy dogs -- as quoted below -- from a longer articles by
Timothy Williams in the New York Times (published March 21, 2011)
"Black's Law Dictionary? Check.
An Introduction to Legal Reasoning? Check.Small, cute dog? Check.
Yale Law School, renowned for competitiveness and its Supreme Courtjustices, is embarking on a pilot program next week in which students can check out a “therapy dog” named Monty along with the library’s collection of more than one million books.
While the law school is saying little so far about its dog-lending program, it has distributed a memo to students with the basics: that Monty will be available at the circulation desk to stressed-out students for 30 minutes at a time beginning Monday, for a three-day trial run.
“It is well documented that visits from therapy dogs have resulted in increased happiness, calmness and overall emotional well-being,” Blair Kauffman, the law librarian, wrote in an e-mail to students..."
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Dafi and Nemo
Dafi has been a source of inspiration for several dogs in the Planet Of The Dogs series. The illustrations of Buddy and Billy are both modeled directly on Dafi. Dafi now has a young "brother", Nemo. Dafi was actually trained in his younger days as a rescue dog. He is easy to be with and is a very loving dog. Nemo is an energetic one year old who is currently being trained in the basics as well as agility. They are Belgian Shepherds, working dogs, and very intelligent.
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Dafi on the printed page...
Here is Dafi as one of the first three dogs to come down to planet earth in an illustration from Planet Of The Dogs.
The dogs are initially regarded with mistust and fear, for no one has ever seen a dog before Dafi (as Buddy), Robbie and Lucy arrive from the Planet Of The Dogs
The dogs begin to win the trust of the farmers in Green Valley after a bear breaks through a fence and attacks the sheep belonging to Daisy and Bean's family.
The dogs find the sheep, scattered in the meadows and woods, and return them to the farm.Subsequently, they warn the family of intruders and scare off both fox and bear. And through the healer lady, Bella, they bring comfort and healing to the sick and lonely. Thus it is that people begin to learn about the many ways that dogs help people and about the human canine bond...
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CELEBRATE CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK!...from CBC
"The 92nd annual observance of Children's Book Week will be May 2-8, 2011. A celebration of the written word, Children's Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes, and bookstores. Through Children's Book Week, Every Child a Reader (the CBC Foundation) 
encourages young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books... visit www.BookWeekOnline.com for more information, ideas, and materials for Children's Book Week 2011."
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All books in the Planet Of The Dogs series can be purchased at your favorite bookstore or on the internet through Amazon, Barnes & Noble , Powells and others...
Read Sample Chapters of all our books on our website:www.Planetofthedogs.net
Librarians, teachers, bookstores -- order our books directly from Ingram...professional discount, of course
Planet Of The Dogs hats, t-shirts, cups etc are in our Cafe Press Shop
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Looking at the World with Dog-Colored Glasses
"Last night I realized something about myself. I was watching the movie, SALT, starring Angelina Jolie as a CIA/Russian double agent. It was a fun movie, full of action and suspense…but while Salt was on the run from the CIA and on an apparent assassination mission, I found myself wondering over and over again whether she was going to go back for her dog. ..."
Above is the beginning of the latest post on Cayr Ariel Wulff's blog Up On The Woof...Cayr is the multi-talented, passionate dog lover, dog rescuer, dog artist (yelodoggie), dog book author (Born Without a Tail), and Cleveland Examiner Pet Columnist.
The photo on the right is of her girls Taco, Maria and Lammy Lam.
Cayr writes with a fresh voice and passion on a multitude of dog related issues on her blog, Up On The Woof.
http://thewoof.wordpress.com/
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Selected Videos for DOG LOVERS
Here is a dog that plays the piano and sings:
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcQai--9AHG
and here is a video of a dog and a young deer...sentimental but true:
http://www.dogwork.com/ddsff4/
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Happy Birthday to Way Cool Dogs!
We want to wish Happy Birthday to Nancy Houser and Way Cool Dogs...her website www.waycooldogs.com is two years old and celebrating its 2nd Happy Birthday! Over the past year, readers from 50 U.S. states and 2 territories have joined us, the Americas (82,335), Europe (9,674), Asia (4,178), Oceania (1,813) and Africa (582) … with a 92% growth rate! From dog rescue and healthcare to incisive articles on dog-related (mostly) matters of the mind and heart, this is a special place for dog lovers. The photo is of Buttons, one of the rescued dogs on her Nebraska farm-ranch.
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Interviews from the Arc
A New Book by Missa Dixon and Joy Ward
I initially followed Joy Ward's writing back when she was editor of the Dogster blog. I later became a big fan of her book Haint, an outstanding science fiction novel wherin dogs play pivital roles. The excerpt below is from Joy's forward for her precedent setting new book on human-animal communication.
"Welcome to our journey into a new way of understanding the world! If you take this journey with us you will be changed. I have and I am glad to say I will never be the same.
How many of us have looked at the dogs, cats and other animals around us and felt there was something going on behind their eyes? We could talk to them but the conversation was almost completely one way. I always hoped there was some way to open the door so they could tell us their thoughts.
I had the good fortune to get to know Missa a few years back. I became aware that she has been hearing and speaking with animals most of her life. It was not until we started talking about actually interviewing animals that I realized we could combine my years of interviewing humans and her years of being able to talk with animals. Interviews from the Ark was born..."
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The Fun Tmes Guide to Dogs recently posted extremely useful up-to-date information on Glucosamine & Chondroitin for Dogs with Joint Pain: http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/2011/04/dog_glucosamine.php
On the lighter side, check out their post on "How Many Dogs does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?'...they also just posted awesome slow motion video of dogs in action...
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Sunbear Squad...devoted to informing all of us regarding what to do if we see a dog in distress -- lying in the road, mistreated, abandoned...Sunbear Squad provides knowledg, guidance and experience...
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"Border Collies are very bright, quick, and more than a little weird."
Donald McCaig, Nops Trials (1994)
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Thanks for that useful info
Posted by: Old Vet | May 24, 2011 at 01:52 AM