Kids love reading to therapy-dog audience on Zoom

Nicholas Gaiani grinned as he narrated the lyrics to a beloved Louis Armstrong song for his furry audience on Zoom from his home in Bethesda, Maryland.

“And I think to myself, what a wonderful world,” Nicholas, 6, read from the illustrated book version of the song, as he does each week during his “Read to a PAL Therapy Dog!” session.

The Washington-based nonprofit group is called People. Animals. Love. It has switched its in-person meet-ups to virtual sessions during the pandemic to serve hundreds of kids per month who are practicing reading.

PAL coordinates about 500 individually owned dogs and a few cats to provide comfort to people in places such as care facilities, libraries and prisons. During the pandemic, the young readers program moved online.

“We think part of the awesomeness is to see the dog on the screen,” said James Haworth, executive director of PAL.

Kids are often frightened if a teacher asks them to read in front of the classroom, but they are not intimidated by dogs, which makes the pooches a more comfortable audience.

Alissa Gaiani said her son has done many Zoom therapy sessions, and he attended an in-person session about a year ago. Her own two dogs sometimes make background appearances, but they are not nearly as exciting to Nicholas as the new dog faces.

“He’s enjoying meeting the different types of dogs, and he gets excited when he recognizes a name,” said Gaiani, 41. “He’s just been happy to read to someone other than his parents. It’s been a really good outlet for that.”