Bideawee’s Pet Therapy Program Introduces Therapy Dog Reading Program to Long Island Schools

For some kids, learning to read, reading out loud, or spending time with dogs can be uncomfortable and scary experiences. To help children in their community with all three of these endeavors, Bideawee animal shelter sent five reading therapy dogs to Willets Road School in Roslyn Heights on April 15 so children were able to read in a non-judgmental, loving, calm environment. Bideawee’s Pet Therapy program has been sending therapy animals of all stripes to schools, nursing homes, hospitals, airports, and more since 1985.

Community members can bring their animals to Bideawee for therapy training so each dog, cat, rabbit, and more can gain the skills necessary to support people who need comfort. Each animal must be at least one year old and owned for at least six months, and undergo a temperament test to determine if they have the right outgoing-yet-calm personality for therapy. Then volunteers can bring them out to different locations in the community. The six owners and dogs who visited Willets Road School as part of the Reading with Dogs program are:

• Rob Flower and Chester (6-year-old golden retriever)
• Gladys Paige-Wharton and Bailey (10-year-old yellow lab)
• Gloria Ciolli and Samantha (8-year-old “teddy bear” type dog)
• Diane Petroccione and Willow (4-year-old terrier mix)
• Carol Goulding and Charlie (15-year-old King Charles spaniel)

“We want to get our animals out into the community,” says Alicia Ryan-Meuschke, who oversees the Long Island pet therapy program. “We’re always about making that human-animal connection, so doing that through pet therapy, getting animals to visit people, is really important to us.”