Bowwow powwow boosts students' love for books
Five Furry Angels visit Millstone Township Primary School
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer
As Dr. Seuss' tongue-twisting tale "Fox in Socks" tried its best to trick second-grader Andrew Dorfman, Faith reached a paw over to reassure the young reader.

ERIC SUCAR staff Second-grader Bryce Morris reads one of his favorite books to Jay, a Chinese crested, during a Read Across America program at the Millstone Township Primary School on Feb. 20.

The golden retriever was one of five dogs that visited the Millstone Township Primary School on Feb. 20 to help students in Joanne Schiumo's class become better readers.

"The dogs encourage the students to read," Millstone's Doreen Villanueva, Faith's owner, said. "Around the dogs, kids' shyness goes away, as does any fear to read out loud."

Demetrius Fudge, 7, read Tedd Arnold's "Huggly Takes a Bath" to Millennium, a yellow lab owned by Millstone's Mary Pat Kochenash.

"She's nice and she listens," Demetrius said of his new friend, "Milly."

Villanueva said the dogs, many of which were rescued, also benefited from the visit because of the interaction with the kids.

ERIC SUCAR staff A group of second-graders get ready to read and show affection to Cort, a German shepherd, during a Read Across America program at the Millstone Township Primary School.

"The dogs like when you pet them," Andrew said.

Members of the Furry Angels, a Monmouth County chapter of The Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs Inc., the dogs and their handlers have been trained to provide loving, nurturing and empathic visits to schools, nursing homes, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, senior residences, private homes and other locations.

Schiumo said her students have varied reading skills and that some children find it difficult or uncomfortable to read aloud.

"Whether a student can read at the first-grade level or a fourthgrade level, the dogs don't judge," she said. "The animals are so receptive to everything the students do. They are so loving and trusting."

Having the dogs visit so the children

can read to them is a different approach to a lesson the students learn in school everyday, according to Schiumo.

"It's a more interactive way to read," she said.

Spirit, a 220-pound English mastiff, particularly enjoyed hearing Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs andHam."His ears perked up at the barrage of monosyllabic words and his large head tilted to get a better look at where Sam-I-Am didn't want to eat his green eggs and ham.

Millstone's Sharon Gaboff encouraged the children to show Spirit the pictures in the book and to read loud enough for himto hear them.

Gaboff, the founder of Furry Angels, said she's been taking therapy dogs into Millstone schools for the past four years.

"We have a lot of people volunteering their time and we have some great dogs," she said. "We work hard to train the dogs to make other people happy."

Millstone's Sue Werner, who brought her German shepherd, Cort, into the class, said Furry Angels offers an eight-week training course for therapy dogs and their handlers. After qualifying to provide therapy, she and Cort have started working at a cancer unit. The teamlikes to help people and make them smile.

Werner said the dogs help people, including the students, to relax.

"I think they are not so reticent about reading when the dogs are listening because they don't have to think about someone making fun of them," Werner said.

Before they left, the Furry Angels encouraged students to go home and read to their pets.

Schiumo said that the more the students read the better readers they will become.

"Reading opens a whole new world to a child," Schiumo said. "As a reader you get to explore all kinds of different adventures - fiction and nonfiction."

The dogs, including Robin Carney's Chinese crested, visited the class as part of the Read Across America celebration, which will culminate with numerous literary events in schools across the nation on Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 3.