Tales Wagging The Dog

The bould Jessie and the proud Heide

ome stories were just built for that Friday feeling, and we may have just found one that turns the feelgood all the way up to 11.

Turns out that St Brigid’s National School have a very special visitor every Wednesday.

A very special visitor who loves nothing more than picking out her favourite book that day and then forming a reading circle so its wonders can be shared aloud.

Which may explain why they call this book-loving buddy Jessie The Wonder Dog…

Running at St Brigid’s throughout the summer, these weekly sessions are part of the international Burns By Your Side initiative, a flagship reading with dogs project created by The John Burns Foundation in Wales. The aim being to help children of all ages with their reading and communications skills.

For this approach to work, specially-trained learning support dogs are needed, and Heide is the wonder behind Greystones’ very own literary Lassie.

Over to Mary Beausang at St Brigid’s…

“Jessie is a friendly dog. She welcomes the children by wagging her tail,” she says, “and the thump of her tail is reassuring as she listens attentively to the children reading. This is a very low key, relaxed and approach to reading. It is not a formal reading lesson, instead the children read to Jessie. Jessie is a Wonder Dog. If a child doesn’t know a word, Jessie whispers it to Heide who then tells the child. Jessie chooses the book she would like read to her. She has the happy knack of choosing the one that is most appropriate to each child.”

Nice. Not that the book stops play. There are chats too, with Jessie and Heidi building up a special relationship with each child, which “encourages the children to read because it’s fun,” says Mary, “and not just because they have to“.

Having undergone 12 weeks of intense training under Orlagh McCarthy of Burns By Your Side, Jessie and Heide were introduced to St Brigid’s by their trainer and project officer Vanessa Garcia. “Orlagh spoke eloquently to the children about how they should treat Jessie when they meet her around the school,” explains Mary, “and how they should treat other dogs they meet outside school. There were useful life lessons there for everyone as children were educated on how to be safe around dogs. So dogs can feel relaxed and happy around these children.”

You can find out more about Burns By Your Side right here, and if you are interested in becoming a volunteer, you can contact Orlagh on 0877717652.