Dogs are valuable aides in Bucks County classrooms

In a cozy corner of a third-grade classroom at Holland Elementary School in Bucks County's Council Rock School District, 9-year-old Conner Weinberg confidently read to a companion, glancing up once in a while for approval.

In return, his listener offered a soulful gaze and, occasionally, a slight wag of a tail.

Which is about what you can expect when your audience is a 140-pound Rhodesian ridgeback named Kicho.

"Sometimes, I get jittery inside when I read [aloud], but not with Kicho," Conner said. "He's very kind and calm. He's my friend. I think of him as my own dog."

Kicho is one of a cadre of canines that have become beloved classroom companions, helping children learn and thrive in a "Canine Assisted Learning Program" in four Bucks County school districts and a private school.

The program was founded five years ago by Wendi Huttner, a Bucks County trainer and breeder of Labrador retrievers, and Deborah Glessner, a retired Council Rock School District librarian. Their nonprofit organization, Nor'wester Readers, now fields 34 teams of dogs and handlers. The teams make weekly visits to classrooms in the Council Rock, New Hope-Solebury, Pennsbury, and Bensalem districts and to the Center School in Abington.

Nor'wester Readers is named after Huttner's dog, Wes, whose full name is Balrion Weathertop Nor'wester.

The basic idea of the program, Huttner said, is to give children "positive reinforcement; they get the affirmation of these big brown eyes, a wag of the tail, and a kiss on the cheek."

Often in a small reading circle, children who may feel shy about reading in front of teachers or peers can open up to a dog.

"When you are reading to your teacher, your parent, your uncle, or your librarian, and you don't know the right word or you mispronounce a word, you are corrected," Huttner said. Dogs, however, "are not judgmental," she said. "There is a child in just about every class that nobody else can reach, but a dog can. They have magic. . . . It's a wonderful thing to see."

The handlers and their dogs are not paid, at least not in cash. But "I always feel very good after a visit; I leave feeling like I made somebody happy," said Carol Wagner, Kicho's companion. "If I make a difference in somebody's life one time, it's worth it." As for Kicho, she said, "what dog wouldn't enjoy sucking up love for an hour?"

The dogs play other roles besides taking part in reading circles. At Council Rock's Richboro Middle School, Jillian, a retriever and her handler, Nan Muska, visit a group of children with severe cognitive deficits who are getting training to help them cope with daily living, along with some others who have multiple disabilities and are largely nonverbal.

"My students light up," said Tim Qualli, the school's multiple disabilities support teacher. "They really enjoy being with her."

"I couldn't ask for more" from Jillian, he said. "She reads their faces and interacts very well with them, and she also knows when to back off."

Jillian serves as the focus for many of the classes' life-skills lessons, Qualli said. For example, the students are asked to make treats for the dog. They go to stores, buy the food, learn how to make the snacks, and give them to Jillian. "It gives them motivation they would not have otherwise," Qualli said. "The payoff for them is to see Jillian enjoy the treats."

During last week's visit, as the students puzzled out the answers to a word game, each time they guessed a letter, their teachers prompted them to "ask Jillian" if they were right. At Muska's subtle command, the dog would give a soft "woof" if the answer was correct. "I wanted her to be of service to mankind," Muska said after the class. "By doing this, she is, and at the same time, she's happy to be with them."

Parents say the program has encouraged their children to treasure reading and taught them valuable lessons as well.

Nicole Davis, mother of two children at Richboro Elementary School in the Council Rock district, where Wendi Huttner and Wes are frequent visitors, said that when her son read to Wes, "I saw a relaxed joy come over him. . . . It empowers them. They can just relax and enjoy."

When her son was reading to her and struggled with a word, Davis recounted, "I said, 'Make sure you sound it out.' " Seeing Wes's interaction with children, she said, "taught me how to interact with my sons so that their confidence is built up and their love of reading comes out. . . . Sometimes, you have to just get into the enjoyment of reading - you can work on sounding things out later."

For a video on therapy dogs helping young readers in Bucks County, visit www.philly.com/bucksdogsEndText