Community Corner
Does Your Dog Like To Read? Non-Profit Seeks Pooches in Marion, Cedar Rapids
Members of Corridor Therapy Dogs offer reading assistance to children at the Marion Library and at other locations. They also visit hospitals and other facilities, such as The Abbe Center.
Faye, a three-legged Maltease named after the damsel in the movie “King Kong,” has her own business card. Her owner, Nann Canfield, offers it to children after they read books to Faye.
Canfield and Faye participate in Corridor Therapy Dogs, a non-profit that brings reading assistance dogs to The Marion Public Library and to schools in Marion to help children learn to read.
Faye and the other Corridor canines are facing a busy schedule, according to Janet Holtman, president of Corridor Therapy Dogs. Holtman is currently seeking handlers and their dogs to offer reading assistance, and also to visit nursing homes, hospitals, and other facilities in Marion and Cedar Rapids.
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Holtman said dog-owners who are interested should check out the non-profit’s website, and contact her with questions. She said all dogs are welcome, as long as they have a good temperament. Handlers and dogs must pass an evaluation to join the Corridor Therapy Dogs team. The test assesses each dogs’ ability to remain calm in a noisy environment, as well as to sit and stay.
According to Holtman, bringing dogs to people who can’t have them at home is rewarding.
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“It just makes them feel more at ease and more at home to have a dog come visit,” she said.