Teach Your Dog to Read
Chapter One
Chapter 1
Learn to Be Your Dog's Coach
Teaching a dog to read requires far more than a few flash cards and a pocketful of biscuits. This chapter will show you how your attitude and your dog's familiarity with basic skills can set the stage for successful reading lessons.
Expect the Best
Much of what I know about how dogs learn comes from teaching service dogs to help people who have limited mobility. These dogs can learn to pick up things that are dropped, turn lights on and off, tug open doors, unzip clothing, and pull wheelchairs when their human partners get tired. Now all of the dogs who are trained at my Assistance Dog Institute learn to read, too.
One amazing golden retriever, Quest, works with Steve Sweeney, a man who has a physical disability and a brain injury. Despite Steve's slow, unclear speech and his limited movements, Quest does everything Steve asks without complaint. She has learned to be both versatile and adaptable: lying quietly beside his wheelchair during his college class by day and attending a rock concert by night. Steve has taught Quest to read more wor ... read full excerpt from Teach Your Dog to Read ebook
