Looking for volunteer hours, enjoy working with children and

have a furry friend?

Pawsitive Pets is searching for enthusiastic and compassionate students looking
for a life-changing volunteer experience.

Pawsitive Pets is looking for fun, compassionate therapy teams to

participate in the nations Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.)
program in one of Duval or St. Johns counties elementary schools. This
volunteer experience is perfect for students who need flexible volunteer
hours, enjoy working with children and have a friendly, trainable dog.
Pawsitive Pet volunteers find their hands-on experience to be enriching the
lives of the students and themselves.
Such is the case with Mary Harvey and her yellow lab Roxie, the pair has
been a volunteer therapy team at Pawsitive Pets for the past five years.
When asked why she chose Pawsitive Pets Harvey said, Because I
wanted to do something fun and uplifting.
According to Mary Bennett-Harvey, Its that feeling I get every time I walk
through the door, the parents who say Roxies picture is hanging our fridge
and the children ask when they can read with Roxie again. Thats why I do
this.
Roxies main purpose when visiting students is to make reading fun and to
not be judgmental. Harveys primary goal is to also make reading fun and
show that it doesnt have to be stressful. The pair visits Spring Park
Elementary every Tuesday and read with six children for 20 minutes each
for a month. Students who participate in the program find reading aloud to
therapy dogs less intimidating than reading aloud to others.
In a study conducted by Shelley Bueche in 2003, all of the sample
students who participated in the R.E.A.D. program study for 13 months,
read at least two grade levels higher than they had previously. Some
students even began reading at levels four times higher than their starting
reading level. According to University of Northern Iowa Professor Linda
Nebbe, Animal-assisted activities show great promise for motivating
children to complete academic activities, not only in reading but also
across the curriculum.

Mary and Roxies experience is a typical volunteer experience for therapy

teams in the Pawsitive Pets program. Pawsitive Pets has been providing
pet-assisted therapy service in the Jacksonville area since 2005. The nonprofit organization relies on volunteers and donations to provide all
program materials for participating students. Pawsitive Pets is a conduit in
the Jacksonville for the nations R.E.A.D. program, the organization
insures volunteers have the proper certifications and partners each therapy
team with a school.
The purpose of the R.E.A.D. program is to help children become more
confident readers all while having fun. The children spend time reading to
the therapy animals in a non-judgmental environment and improve selfesteem. According to the Pawsitive Pets website, research indicates that
children with low self-esteem are more likely to interact with animals than
other people and they are more likely to forget about any limitations they
may have.
If you would like to become a R.E.A.D. therapy team please visit the
Pawsitive Pets website, www.pawsitivepets.org. If you would like to get
involved with Pawsitive Pets, but you dont have a pet there are still plenty
of ways to get involved. Pawsitive Pets also needs volunteers to assist with
events, assist a R.E.A.D. team, or assist with administration duties.

Questions? Please visit the Pawsitive Pets website pawsitivepets.org. or

therapydogs.com for more information on how to get involved or how to
certify your pet.