Lamar Elementary students improve skills by reading to dogs

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) — Students at Lamar Elementary improved their reading skills by reading to some four-legged friends on Wednesday.

Volunteers with the Human-Animal Bond in Tennesse (H.A.B.I.T.) , an outreach program of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, take dogs, cats, and rabbits to schools, hospitals, assisted-living centers and other locations.

Several students got to read to a dog named Colby Jack.

“When [students] read to dogs, dogs don’t put them down, or they don’t make fun of them, or they don’t criticize the way the reading or the way they’re talking,” Dr. Mike Fenwick with the Tennessee Veterinary Foundation said. “It relaxes the children.”

Ruth Sapp with H.A.B.I.T. said the animals serve as friends to the students in the classroom.

“The benefit of this is that kids will have a friend in the classroom who’s nonjudgmental, is never going to correct them, always going to be happy to see them, and they can really look forward to this reading activity,” Sapp said. “Kids have better attendance on days where the dog is going to be there. As our teacher here was telling us, Miss Craddock, you know, they were begging to be included in Colby Jack’s visit today.”

To learn more or volunteer with H.A.B.IT., visit its website .

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