School volunteer Diane Mayhew and Maggie prepare for a volunteer session of Read to Rover.
WESTFIELD – Every other week since November, School Committee member and school volunteer Diane Mayhew and her English springer spaniel, Maggie, go to Southampton Road Elementary School for the Read to Rover program.
Read to Rover is part of the K9’s for Kids Pediatric Therapy Unit, a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to kids in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. This group of dogs and handlers donate their time to bring smiles and joy to children suffering from a wide range of physical, emotional, and learning disabilities.
Mayhew first started training Maggie when she was six months old, taking her through two years of obedience classes. As Maggie progressed the level of training increased through intermediate and upper level classes, each becoming more challenging, before the decision was made to train Maggie for the K9s for Kids program.
Southampton Road fifth grader Ryan said he likes Read to Rover because, “It’s calming.”
“The dogs actually tell you what they want to do,” Mayhew said. First they are exposed to children, ages infant to middle school, to see how they react and how much they can be handled, sometimes having their ears pulled, and tails pulled. Mayhew said Maggie loved kids.
“One infant, who was 6 months old, reached out and grabbed Maggie’s fur, and held on. Maggie just sat there,” Mayhew said. After the testing, she went through the K9s for Kids training program, which she successfully completed. Mayhew and Maggie then chose the Read to Rover program in the schools to participate in.
Ryan reads The Berenstain Bears to Maggie for the Read to Rover program.
At Southampton Road, Mayhew and Maggie first go in to the office of School Adjustment Councilor Kelly Flaherty to get ready for the children. This year, their first, they have been working with three children in the school who their teachers felt would benefit from dog therapy
Maggie, now four, relaxes on the rug and waits for a knock on the door. On Wednesday, it was Ryan at the door, a shy, quiet fifth grader. He came in, and Mayhew asked him to pick out a book from the shelf.
The wrinkle in the Read to Rover program is that instead of being read to, the children do the reading to their dog friends.
Ryan picked out The Berenstain Bears, and started reading it to Maggie, and to Mayhew. His voice was quiet, but grew more confident as he continued. When asked what he likes about coming to see Maggie, “It’s calming,” Ryan said.
Mayhew said the other children in the program are rowdy and can’t keep their hands off Maggie when they come in, but Ryan, who doesn’t have a dog at home, took time to warm up to her. She said Wednesday was only the second time he sat down on the rug with her.
Mayhew said that dogs in the program have to be re-evaluated annually, and to stay in the K-9s for Kids program, must volunteer a certain number of hours. She said currently there are about six dogs and trainers that visit the elementary schools in Westfield.
