Let's READ!
READing Paws...helping kids learn to love READing....4 paws at a time!
Let's READ!
READing Paws...helping kids learn to love READing....4 paws at a time!
About Us -
Who We Are
A READing Paws Team is comprised of a registered Therapy Animal and owner/handler.
You'll find these Teams in your local school, tucked in a corner, READing with a student. The animals love to listen and look at the pictures. They encourage the students to practice their READing skills and enjoy books.
Occasionally, we will have a READing Day at your local library. Sometimes, at a local bookstore, there will be several READing Paws Teams and you can sign up to READ. We're usually in the Children's Department where we are sharing a good story with a child.
And you can find us at a Boys & Girls Club sharing a good book with a child or two after school.
Look carefully and you'll see our Teams READing with the patients at a Children's Hospital.
If you have a book, a child, a handler and a dog - we have the recipe for READing!
Our Mission
The mission of READing Paws is to improve the literacy skills of children through the assistance of nationally registered & qualified therapy animal-owner/handler teams as literacy mentors.
READing Paws utilizes nationally registered & qualified animal-owner/handler Therapy Teams who volunteer to go to schools, libraries and many other settings as reading companions for children. The utilization of registered therapy teams is the foundation of READing Paws, in order to ensure that the animals have been trained and tested for health and safety, appropriate skills and temperament, and have been insured for liability.
Within the READing Paws program, all participating Teams have undergone national criminal background checks to ensure the safety of the children that we serve.
READing Paws is an Affiliate of R.E.A.D.® (Reading Education Assistance Dogs®), a program of Intermountain Therapy Animals® (ITA) of Salt Lake City, Utah. https://therapyanimals.org/read/ are honored to be their first Affiliate Program. ITA launched R.E.A.D. in 1999 as the first comprehensive literacy program built around the appealing idea of reading to dogs, and the program has been spreading rapidly around the world happily ever since!
We're growing! READing Paws is now active in several communities. You can find our Teams actively involved in literacy programs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada & Tennessee.
READing Paws is a non-profit corporation, federally tax exempt under IRS Code 501(c)(3)
Contact Us
Please contact us by phone or email with any question, concern, or brilliant idea that you might have! We love hearing from you
By phone: READing Paws Administrative Offices
615.319.3090
By Email: Info@READingPaws.org