Library offers ‘Dog Day’ afternoon

ALAMOSA — For children learning to read, the Alamosa Public Library will again be offering a “pawsitive” reading experience with a furry friend - a dog called Moose!

The “Tales with Moose” program will run from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month through May. The next “Dog Day” afternoon will be on April 4 at the library, 300 Hunt Ave., Alamosa

Moose is a registered therapy dog and his owner, Dr. Laura Bruneau, is an Adams State University professor of counselor education. Together, they belong to Pet Partners, the nation’s largest and most prestigious nonprofit-registering volunteer teams who provide animal-assisted interventions.

While there are more than 15,000 Pet Partners teams across the U.S., Moose and Laura is the only team helping children here in the San Luis Valley. The “Tales with Moose” program, a Pet Partners Read With Me initiative, improves children’s reading skills by providing children with supervised practice reading time. Moose especially loves hearing books about animals.

Any child who would like to read to Moose will have 15 minutes of one-on-one time with him. When the child has read four books to Moose, they will receive a book of their own to take home - and the book will be “pawtographed” by Moose himself!

Reserving a time to read to Moose is recommended. To sign up, please call the library at 719-589-6592.