Man's best friend

Several area elementary classes are going to the dogs - in a good way.

What started in the reading program at Herrin's Northside Primary Center nearly a decade ago, has now spread to Marion's elementary schools.

Tammy Newbold began using her Golden Doodle, Riley, a certified service animal, as a "reading dog" and she saw immediate results.

"Respect," she said. "The kids saw the connection between my dog and me. They were very loving and kind to me and my dogs."

Newbold said the social interactions with the service animals taught the students valuable lessons, as well as helping them cope with mastering skills that many found difficult.

Although she retired in May, Newbold still remains active with the school and its program and is training her "doodle," Beau.

She has been the ringleader of a group of five educators that are establishing programs in their schools with the help of a Benton-based training program, Willing Partners Canine Education, Inc., run by Linda Krutsinger.

Krutsinger has operated WPCE for 11 years.

"We've had over 165 dogs come through the program," she said.

While many of the dogs are trained as service animals for the disabled, including veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, the current class that meets once a week at Marion's Cornerstone Church includes five area educators who have enrolled their dogs to use in their schools.

"Research has shown that having a dog in the room with struggling readers helps them to relax," said Kathy Bloodworth, a reading teacher who is following in Newbold's shoes.

Bloodworth is training Rouge, who will take the service dog test in about a month, when she turns a year old.

Bloodworth said reading to the dogs is comfortable for struggling readers.

"It's safe to make mistakes because there's no judgment."

Bloodworth said the dogs are also valuable when working with autistic kids, offering "just that little bit of distraction of petting the dog while they're reading."

For Janet Taylor, a first-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Marion, the decision to train her Golden Doodle, Kilroy, is even more significant.

"I have a student in my class who parents are incarcerated," she said. "He's depressed."

Taylor said her only fear was time. "I hope he (Kilroy) can pass the test," she said. "It's already March. He (the student) will go on to second grade."

However, Taylor has a fellow educator, Kristy Allardyce, who is also in the program with her dog, Rupp.

Allardyce teaches fourth grade and is excited about using Rupp in the classroom.

"Our principal, John Fletcher, is super on board," she said, a sentiment echoed by the other educators about their building leaders.

Allardyce's daughter, Madison, who is studying communication disorders at SIU, is also training her dog, Judd, as a service animal.

Madison, who was just accepted into SIU's grad program, hopes to use Judd in therapy sessions.

"It's the same work as with the reading programs," she said. "There is a lot of one-on-one with the children."

Kristy Allardyce noted that children with language difficulties can be encouraged in speech by giving commands to the dogs.

"It helps when they give a simple command, like 'sit,' and the handler is behind the student giving hand signals to the dog," she said.

These teachers are also bearing the brunt of the costs of the canine reading program.

Along with the costs of the dogs, the training is $150 for 10 classes.

"Personally, I think that's really cheap," said Allardyce.

All of the teachers said they "didn't mind" the cost of the program. Their interest is in helping their students.