Success Story: How a program that was intended to help scared dogs ALSO helped children by boosting reading scores "Off-the- Charts"

At the National Organization for Literacy And Reading, we weren’t focused on helping dogs, but we wondered if encouraging young children to record themselves reading books to the scared dogs would result in the children reading more books and help improve the reading levels for many at-risk, under-served children.

Recently, PETCO awarded a huge grant, almost a million dollars, to the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association. A significant level of funding went to purchase an audio system. This is because their animal researchers found when their shelter dogs listened to recordings of people reading books, they had much lower stress levels. They were only stressed 26.39% of the time. Previously, their average dog at the shelter were stressed 75.92% of the time.

Previously, the survival rate for the animal shelter was less than 50%, sometimes even as low as 31%. Now, less than 1% of their dogs are euthanized for aggression. Simply by allowing the dogs to listen to recordings of people reading books, it saved the lives of many scared dogs.

This was because an animal shelter is a very scary place for a dog. Everyone, and everything, they have ever known is now gone. They are locked in a cage. They can’t play and run. They don’t know what will happen next, or if they can ever trust anyone again. Most are afraid and stressed. This can lead to cowering in a corner, jumping, barking, and lunging when people come to look for a dog to adopt. Since most people will not adopt a dog that displays these behaviors, high stress levels can be deadly, but listening to children reading books calmed the dogs.

Since many children across the nation still do not have at-home Internet access and/or computers, we needed a program that could help ALL children. So we created a phone based solution. Unlike Internet service, the government considers telephone service a utility. Therefore, low-cost or free phone service is available in every community through government programs.

Also, since few animal shelters could afford a $100,000 audio system with speakers in almost every cage, we created a system that utilized standard MP3 audio files that could be played on almost any electronic device. The other animal shelters across the nation found that the simple system actually worked. They told us that something amazing had happened. The animal shelters reported that it was now much quieter at night. Many scared dogs stopped barking. They loved it when the recordings of the children reading books were playing.

Everything is super easy for both children and animal shelters. The children simply pick up a phone and call the educational phone number provide by their teacher. Even kindergarten students are using the system without any help. The system has many educational programs and resources, but the "Read To A Dog" has been the most popular. The system asks the student to say the name of their book, and then asks the student to read their book. The system then processes the recordings to remove noise, gaps of silence, and handles sound level processing for our soft-spoken readers. Since most animal shelters request multi-hour book reading sessions, the system combines multiple student's recordings.

All students are completely anonymous for student privacy. The educational phone system only asks the children to read their book. The system does not ask for student identifiable information, such as names.

The project was highly successful. The children loved the fact that they could easily record books to help animals, anytime and anywhere. Many young children start their reading sessions by saying, “Hello Doggie … I’m going to read you a book to help you stay calm”. Many also end their reading sessions with, “Good night Doggie … stay calm … I’m going to call you again tomorrow!!!”.

The results have been amazing. We have students that are reading at home, every day, even on weekends, holidays, and school breaks. Overall reading minutes have tripled and their reading growth scores are not only far above the national averages … they are “off the charts”.

We also analyzed the long-term benefits the children will receive because of their outstanding reading growth.

These children are also on track to become happy, healthy, millionaires. New research has found that children that can improve their reading level by one standard deviation should earn at least an extra $1 to $9 million during their careers because they have the academic skills necessary to qualify for higher paying careers and compound growth on saving from those higher wages, when compared to children with lower reading levels. Their long-term health level estimates are 37% to 59% higher. Their average life expectancy is 7 to 10 years longer. Also, long-term estimates for lifetime happiness levels have increased between 34% to 87%.

The dogs are now happier, have less stress, and have a much higher chance of being adopted by someone who will provide them with love at their new forever home.

For additional information: contact Howard Zolty at LinkedIn.