Photo Caption: Second-grader Elizabeth Rohrer of St. Mary’s School in Metamora reads a book to her furry friend Ali after equipping her with a pair of 3-D glasses.

METAMORA — Ali Belsley heard a lot about dinosaurs during a recent visit to St. Mary’s School, but she didn’t seem to mind. Ever the good sport, she even donned a pair of 3-D glasses so she could get the most out of a book about “Awesome Animals.”

Don’t let the fact that Ali is a 10-year-old Sheltie fool you. She loves spending time with the second-graders at St. Mary’s and they couldn’t be more excited about reading to their loving “furry friends.”

Ali is one of four WOOF Therapy Dogs that come to St. Mary’s once a month to provide a gentle presence for the children as they develop their reading skills. Each of the 14 second-graders in Kathryn Mosher’s class spends about 15 minutes reading aloud to their canine companions while petting and interacting with them.

“Besides the fact that it’s fun, it boosts their confidence, increases their fluency, increases their expression in reading,” Mosher told The Catholic Post, adding that the dogs are non-judgmental and empathetic.

They also provide support for the children at a crucial time in their learning.

“When (students) hit third grade, that’s a real leap in education,” Mosher said. “All of a sudden they’re reading a lot more independently. There are fewer pictures and smaller print.

“They really need to have a good, solid foundation when they leave second grade. They need to be prepared,” she said. “This is just one more fun way for them to improve their skills.”

CREATING LIFELONG LEARNERS
Getting the ball rolling was Rita Adams, whose daughter, Sophie, is in Mosher’s class. Their neighbors are involved in WOOF — We Offer Our Friends — and she started talking to them about the possibility of bringing the dogs to St. Mary’s School.

Among them was Joy Belsley, who was going through the certification process with Ali for the Paws 4 Healing program at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. Ali has also visited patients at a cancer treatment center.

A volunteer organization of animal lovers, WOOF Therapy Dogs was founded to “provide affection and comfort to people with various needs,” including those in nursing homes, schools and summer camps. In addition to St. Mary’s School, the children at the Center for the Prevention of Abuse in Peoria benefit from WOOF, and Belsley said they hope to reach out to include hospice patients in the near future.

Adams took her idea to Mosher and Ryan Bustle, the principal at St. Mary’s, who said he “struggled to find a downside to it.”

“It’s a challenge for any school to help students become lifelong learners,” Bustle said. “The dogs obviously are very well trained and not intimidating in any way. When the kids got together with them they just took it and ran.”

“It helps us to read and it’s fun,” said Jacob Ingersoll, who read a book about dinosaurs to Murphy, a Shih Tzu owned by Kristy Williams, earlier this month. “You’re reading to an animal and not a person and that makes it easier.”

It makes them better readers, he said.

‘PEBBLE IN A POND’
Everyone involved said they don’t know who enjoys the visits more — the dogs, their handlers or the students.

“When I put her collar on her and brush her, Ali gets a whole different attitude,” Belsley said. “She gets excited. She knows she’s going to get to do something. . . . I can see the happiness in Ali’s face when she’s around these kids.”

That joy has become “a pebble in a pond,” according to Mosher. She said someone who heard about the reading program contributed money to the school library, and the students chose to donate a portion of their Christmas and Catholic Schools Week service projects to Food 4 Paws, an organization that provides food for dogs and cats so that they can remain with their owners instead of being sent to shelters.

“All these blessings that come from it — we didn’t know that when we started,” Adams said.

More information about WOOF Therapy Dogs is available online at wooftherapydogs.org The organization can also be found on Facebook.