Meet Sting, a former race dog who now works as a therapy dog at a library in Minnesota as part of a Paws to Read program, where children can improve their reading skills by reading to dogs. Sting has worked there for the past two years but, earlier this month, nobody signed up to read with poor Sting. In order to try and help Sting find a reading partner, his owner, John Muellner, posted a picture of Sting on Facebook and asked if any parents would like their children to come and read with him.
The post quickly went viral and the libraries’ phone hasn’t stopped ringing with calls from people across the US who want to help cheer Sting up and find him some reading partners. “People are asking if we could hold the phone to Sting’s ear so they could read to him,” said Ann Wahlstrom, children’s librarian at the Ramsey County Library in White Bear Lake. “The whole staff of a Petco in California called to say they love Sting. It’s just amazing, the outpouring.”
As Today reports, the truth is, Sting isn’t quite as lonely as the sad post makes him look. His owner describes him as “very easygoing” and said that “nothing scares him; nothing bothers him, not even squirrels.” Sting and his owner spend a lot of time together and are part of a dog-therapy program at a local children’s hospital.
If Sting did feel a little rejected by his lack of reading partners, then it’s not something he’ll have to worry about for a while. He is now booked up until April with children eager to read him stories. Sting’s fame has inspired people to bring their little ones to these reading classes and now other libraries in the area are finding their reading dogs in hot demand.
Wahlstrom couldn’t be happier that Sting has helped promoted the program and said “We love promoting the joy of reading. The joy of reading to dogs.”
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