{"id":10678,"date":"2023-01-13T12:19:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T17:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10678"},"modified":"2023-01-13T12:44:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T17:44:25","slug":"meet-hank-big-dog-big-heart-and-a-great-listener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/meet-hank-big-dog-big-heart-and-a-great-listener\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Hank. Big dog, big heart \u2014 and a great listener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013by David Schleck<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fourth<\/a>
Fourth graders in Michelle Hanley’s class recently read to Hank, the therapy dog, in the library of Tallwood Elementary. Pictured with Hank are trainer Melissa White and students Michaela Gamboa, Silas Bundy and John Dooley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A 3-year-old English mastiff is attracting readers to Tallwood Elementary\u2019s library. Students stop by to read to Hank in 15 minute increments. He listens patiently while they turn the pages of their favorite books.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes to listen,\u201d John Dooley said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Students get a “Hank Pass” to visit the library and read to the therapy dog.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe loves everybody,\u201d Silas Bundy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes to be read to,\u201d Michaela Gamboa said.<\/p>\n

Library Assistant Kim Barnes said Hank\u2019s twice-a-month visits are a big hit with students and teachers. Her daughter-in-law, Melissa White, owns Hank and trains dogs for a living. Hank is certified by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, which provides testing, support and insurance for members who volunteer with their dogs in nursing homes, schools, cancer centers and other facilities.<\/p>\n

A good therapy dog is at least 1 years old, has a calm and gentle disposition, and is attentive to its handler. Hank just turned 3 and weighs 170 pounds. Although Labrador retrievers and poodles are popular breeds for therapy dogs, White said she noticed Hank had a gentle spirit when he was a puppy, so she decided to pursue the training.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes students will come into the library and they\u2019ll be a little timid about reading,\u201d White said. \u201cBut when they sit down with Hank, they relax. They know he likes to spend time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents fill out a permission slip if they want their children to visit with Hank, and White keeps him on a leash at all times. Principal Lisa Suter said having a therapy dog has helped students be excited about reading and feel comfortable at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all love him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hank is a certified therapy dog. He even has his own school badge!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2013by David Schleck A 3-year-old English mastiff is attracting readers to Tallwood Elementary\u2019s library. Students stop by to read to Hank in 15 minute increments. He listens patiently while they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10684,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678\/revisions\/10684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}