Gotoyourlocalpubliclibrary，andyouwillfindanunusualactivityisappearingmoreandmore：Practicingreadingwithtraineddogs．Howwouldyoufeelabouttakingtimeonceaweektoreadaloudtoadog？

Eachdoginareadingprogramexperienceaspecialtrainingsession．Thetrainersalsoreceivetraining； theylearnhowtointeract（互动）withthestudentsandthedogs．Eachprogramhashighstandards．Therehavebeenmanystudiesoftheinteractionsbetweenhumansanddogsthatshowdogslowerpeople'sbloodpressureandheartrate．Peoplebecomemorerelaxedandcalmandwillcompletelyforgetwhattheyarescaredofwhentheyhaveadognearby．

Unlikeatschool，wherestudentssitatdesksortables，studentsanddogssittogetheronspecialreadingmats．Somestudentslienexttothedogs．Eachstudentreadstoonedog，sothereisaquietdinofvoicesintheroom．Thedoghasbeentaughtacommand to payattentiontothereader．Sowhenthetrainersayssomethingtothedog，itfocusesonthestudentatonce．Butsometimes，thestudentsreadthedogstosleep!

Thedog'strainerisalsopresent．Heorshewatchesthedogcarefullytomakesurethatthedogbehaves．Sometimes，thetrainergivesthedogabreakwhenthedogbecomesrestless．Whilethetrainerdoesn'thelpwiththereading，thetrainertalkstothestudentaboutthedogandexplainshowtotakecareofpetsandhowtobesafearoundanimals．

Studentswhoreadtodogsshowthebenefitsofthisinteraction．Theyarecalmerandcanavoidworryingaboutgettingallthewordscorrect．Thedogjustwantstohearthestory．Asstudentslearnmoreaboutthedogstheyreadto，theyalsolearnthattheyhavegainedanewfriend．

Notonlydostudentschangetheirreadinghabitswiththedogsduringtheprogram，buttheyalsochangetheirschoolhabits．Theirreadingskillsincreasebytwelvetotwentypercent．Theystartraisingtheirhandsandansweringquestionsmoreoften．Theypaymoreattentioninclass．Somestudentsstartarrivingatschoolearlierandareabsentlessoften．

Dogsarenotjustforplayingfetchwithanymore．Nowtheycanhelppeoplebecomebetterreaders．Nexttimeyouvisityourlocallibrary，beonthelookoutforfour-leggedcreatures （生物） whowanttohearagoodstory．

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