Follow the trail of purple paw prints in the Southwest Harbor Public library on most Wednesday afternoons to find out why. The paw prints will lead you to a quiet corner in the library where Cody, the Reader Dog, is snuggled down on his cushion, next to a purple striped beach towel and pillows he thoughtfully provides for the children who read with him.
Cody’s friend and handler, MJ Penn, is there too. Together, child, friend and dog read. Cody is a still-life picture of listening. His eyes are fixed on the small child reading with him. Sometimes his eyes close for a moment, but you know that he is still listening. And somehow, even if you are having a little trouble getting the hang of reading, you become a better reader. It is fun to read with Cody. He is a comfortable friend and does not judge the reader. MJ is there for the difficult bits.
Cody, a six-year-old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, whose coat is a beautiful red/gold (sedge) color, is a certified therapy dog and part of a nationwide program which started with Dog Day Afternoons at the Salt Lake City Library ten years ago. Cody is a Reading Education Assistance Dog - R.E.A.D. - and has been carefully trained as a listener. He is one of four dog/handler teams participating in the Reader Dog Downeast program on Mount Desert Island.
Cody came to MJ at the age of two from Chesapeake Safe Harbor in Bremen, Maine on the 4th of July in 2005. He passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test three and a half months later. He was certified with Therapy Dogs, Inc. in March 2006. Cody has been visiting the assisted living and Alzheimer's residents at Birch Bay Village in Hull’s Cove for more than two years. Cody trained all spring of 2009 to become a R.E.A.D. dog and officially launched as the library’s new Reader Dog for the 2009 summer sessions!
In addition to being a R.E.A.D./Therapy Dog, Cody is fond of swimming, eating and sleeping, hiking, boating, collecting sticks and many more outdoor activities. His favorite books are from Hawaii: “Beach is for Beach” and Ten Days in Hawaii” because the surfer dog in many of the illustrations looks like him!
Cody is following in his older brother, Kelvin’s, paw prints. Kelvin, another Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and MJ began the Reader Dog Downeast program at the Southwest Harbor Public Library in February of 2004. Five years later, having held around 1000 twenty minute sessions, reading with some 85 children, gifting over 200 hard cover books at the August Reader Dog Downeast Afternoon Teas, training 4 other teams and making numerous appearances on behalf of Reader Dog Downeast, Kelvin retired in February 2009. He passed away the following month, in March, at the age of nine, from a cancerous tumor. Kelvin is deeply missed by MJ, Cody and the entire library family.
Click on Cody's purple button to visit his and MJ's Reader Dog Downeast web site. There you can find out all about Cody and MJ's education including Intermountain Therapy Animals of Salt Lake City with which they are affiliated.
Elementary-aged readers on Mt. Desert Island may sign up at the Library for an appointment from four to six on Wednesdays to read with Cody. Please call the Library at 244-7065, or drop by, to sign up for a session.
While purple is the Reader Dog Downeast color, Cody's personal color is green. He comes to the library with a green collar, leash and vest. Cody's vest, however, has special purple patches embroidered with "Reader Dog Downeast"!
He uses a green pen for his purple log book and a green ink pad to stamp paw prints. Kids coming to the library wearing purple or green make Cody extra happy!
The bottom photo of Reader Dog in action is published courtesy of the Bangor Daily News/Michael Young photographer.