See Spot. Sit, Spot!

James is a bit afraid of dogs. First, they can be big, loud, unpredictable, and bumpy. Second, his grandparents had an Airedale puppy, whose antics put him further on alert. His sister, meanwhile, adores dogs and puppies.

His teacher has a companion dog, who is helping James become more confident around dogs. This is great because he used to scream and panic whenever he saw a dog. Now he is unhappy but tries "SIT, doggie!!! No touch!" before panicking and then screeching. The great thing is, the words work a lot!

Recently, we've found something else that can help. Our local library has a new (this Fall) "Read to a Dog" program. His sister is just about its biggest fan and recenly I started bringing James along.

I finally brought my camera this week and here's what we did: We had two new dogs to read to yesterday! A Pomeranian/chihuahua mix and a chihuahua. My daughter was in heaven. She was so good with the dogs, who adored her.

The library program is such a neat idea. You follow the dog paw prints from the entry to a reading sofa:


And you read to the dogs. Alvin is on the left. Jalapena is on the right, and was sporting a Christmas holiday dress to help keep her warm. First we say hello:


Then we read (when it's our turn):



And what was James doing? Well, he found he computers with games loaded on them:





We love our library!