“Twelve months ago my husband John and I featured on Humans of Lismore with our experience of initially fostering, then adopting Maggie, our rescue dog. Maggie had been a wanderer and her numerous adventures eventually led to her ending up at Casino Pound where CAWI (Companion Animals Welfare Inc) took her on and arranged for us to foster Maggie with a view to adoption.
When I first saw Maggie she arrived directly from the pound, dirty, smelly and frightened with little background information relating to her first 5 years of life.. We didn’t even know her name so she must have found it very confusing at first when we kept on calling her Maggie. Initially, she was very scared and exhibited stress related signs such as excessive licking. Maggie had received little training, pulled on her lead, refused to come when called and was a canine ‘houdini’ at escaping. Despite these challenges, Maggie was a real smoochy poochy and we just loved her and there never was any doubt that we would adopt her.
Today, twelve months on and Maggie is a very different dog. We are so excited as Maggie and I have just been accredited to volunteer with the recently launched Story Dogs Program in Lismore. Story Dogs is a fun and supportive reading program for children experiencing reading difficulties with the aim of improving literacy skills but using a lovable, gentle dog to engage the child. A number of Primary Schools have been approached in LIsmore and we are keen to hear back from them.
Maggie is so suited to this role. Maggie’s an excellent listener, she doesn’t care if a child gets a word wrong as she never judges and just responds so postively to children, wagging her tail enthusiastically when spoken to by the child, providing a friendly doggie greeting to the child at each session. So when this happens, the child relaxes and begins to engage, reading becomes fun, they try harder, their reading skills increase and their self esteem soars. It’s a simple concept that really gets results.
Story Dogs is a not-for-profit organisation and the program is absolutely free of charge to children and entirely staffed by volunteers. It cost $500 per year to provide all the essentials needed for each dog team to operate which covers insurance, testing, book purchases, annual vet checks and promotional material.
As a new volunteer, I am looking for a business to sponsor our Dog Team. It’s a great way for a business to be promoted as Maggie is highly visible in her vest attending school on a weekly basis with the business name and logo of her sponsor on her vest. Sponsors are also promoted on the Story Dogs website and at various media events. I feel that sponsoring a dog team is a great way for a business to sponsor educational outcomes for local children.”
Each dog team has to pass rigorous accreditation by a certified dog trainer, be immaculately groomed, vaccinated and vet checked as well as their human handler undergoing a Working with Children check. One of the tests required Maggie to walk on a loose leash between a number of objects such as toys and an open lunchbox without lunging at these objects. Maggie showed that she could remain calm and focused. An open lunch box would be an invitation to any self respecting dog, particularly a lab, but Maggie displayed amazing restraint – she was a star and we love her to bits.”