‘Undesirable’ Dog Was Going To Be Put Down, So Girl Began Reading Him Stories

It’s a bitter truth that many shelters are over capacity and they end up euthanizing their dogs if they fail to get adopted within the allotted time.

One of the primary reasons many shelter dogs fail to find homes is their “timid” or “unfriendly” personalities. These dogs have pasts scarred with a.buse, neglect or deprivation, which makes it even harder for them to come out of their shells.

The Humane Society of Missouri was rolling out a new program, which not only acquaints shy dogs with friendly humans, but also helped young kids with their reading and animal skills. The program, called Shelter Buddies Reading Program pairs up youngsters with shelter dogs. The kids get to read to the dogs without judgement and the dogs are able to learn social skills, prepping them for a hopeful adoption.

“We wanted to help our shy and f.earful dog without forcing physical interaction with them to see the positive effect that could have on them,” JoEllyn Klepacki, the director of education at the Humane Society of Missouri. told The Dodo. “We launched the program last Christmas, but now we offer it once a month.”

Kids age 6 to 15 can sign up for the program online, after which they are trained how to read a dog’s body language to tell if they are str.essed out or anxious. Those pets, say Klepacki, are the ones most in need of special attention.

The young volunteers are then encouraged to sit in front of a shy dog’s kennel with a book and read to them – a simple gesture that can go a long way.

“A lot of these kids  have never really thought about the fact that shelters exist full of animals that are homeless,” said Klepacki. “And when they come in and they see them and they meet them, they connect with them. It develops that empathy that they have and inspires them to want to do more to help.”

As a result of the program, the Humane Society of Missouri has reduced the average length of stay for their shelter dogs by six days and by helping them get more comfortable around people.

“We’ve had children actually adopt animals as a result of participating in this program. They connect with the animals that they’re visiting,” said Klepacki.

The program has become so successful they’ve also expanded the event by organizing other shelters to take part in “Deck the Howls” as a launching pad to start their own reading programs.