Reading with Rover teams are called D.R.E.A.M. teams, which stands for: Dogs for Reading, Education, Assistance and More. Many people ask us, “What is the More?” Reading With Rover is a pet therapy organization offering pet therapy to our community in a variety of ways. Our teams start their volunteer service in several different settings, such as schools and libraries, working with children who are learning to read. After that, there is a world of ever expanding opportunities of “More” in which we are continually invited to participate. After additional training for our handlers to make sure everyone is kept safe, our D.R.E.A.M. teams visit Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Evergreen Hospital, and EvergreenHealth Hospice Care in Kirkland. We also serve at several Providence hospitals. Each team is specifically evaluated for their aptitude and affinity for a location. From those evaluations, teams are assigned visitation locations that match their talents.
A significant number of our teams continue on to become HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response dog teams. Achieving that goal represents substantial additional training at both ends of the leash. We are very proud to have crisis dog teams as Reading With Rover D.R.E.A.M. teams. Many of our experienced teams volunteered during the March 22, 2014 Highway 530 mudslide in Oso, WA and provided stress relief for the emergency managers, first responders, volunteer workers and community members. Our Reading With Rover D.R.E.A.M. teams serve the community at extreme crisis situations such as the October 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting, the September 23, 2016 Cascade Mall shooting in Burlington, WA and the June 5, 2014 Seattle Pacific University shooting. Several of our Reading With Rover D.R.E.A.M. teams visit Harbor View Rehabilitation center to work with some of the international students injured in the tragic September 24, 2015 Ride the Ducks of Seattle accident. Our organization gets “the call” in times of crisis and we proudly respond.
We were recently awarded the very first (May 2017) Reading Hero award by Amazon celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of the Kindle and the work we do with our therapy dogs to promote reading and literacy among the children in our community. Amazon conducted a nation-wide search and we are honored to have been chosen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVJGI1OnxrM
Our Reading With Rover D.R.E.A.M. teams visit several nursing, universities, schools, libraries and assisted living homes in the Seattle area as well as rehabilitation facilities that serve our veterans. We are the only organization chosen by the King County Library system to organize reading programs in their libraries. Many of our teams are trained to work with special needs children who have physical limitations including autism and other challenges. Please email us info@readingwithrover.org for more information
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