At 6:45 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month, a special parade comes to the library. A puppy parade, that is, for that’s the night when the Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs come over to hear stories read by our youngest patrons at the Books & Barks event.

Here comes Carmi, and Teagan, and Tater too. Plus Piper, and Bella — we love your fluffy do! There’s Chip and there’s Lucy — oh yes, we love you — and last but not least, there’s Vayl, who’s just two.

The library has been going to the dogs — or rather, the dogs have been coming to the library — for five years now, since the summer of 2014 when Leslie Carson-Dubois, a library patron, suggested the idea and set up the first gathering. Since then, the group has been bringing its own brand of pawsome-ness to EPL every month, encouraging kids to read to them while they listen attentively and tilt their heads at just the right point in the story — even if the story is, well, …’How to Be a Cat.’ No matter; they seem to love them all.

Even if a reader is not even quite a reader yet, why the dogs are just as happy to be shown the pictures or to hear a silly story made up in the moment. It’s all good. All they hope for in exchange is a pat on the head or a belly rub, and there’s no shortage of those to go around.

The group meets from 6:45 to 8 p.m. in the Margaret Knoll Gardner lecture room, where the dogs mellow out on colorful mats, and the children ‘work the room’ as they wish — reading to just one dog or making sure they get around to all of them. Children can bring their own books to share or read one of the books selected by the library. Parents or caregivers are free to get down on the floor and coach alongside or stand on the sidelines and witness the magic as the alchemy of child, dog, and story unfolds. Even first-timers who may be a little shy at first soon seem to gravitate to the dog that’s just right them. Before long, the love flows.

Bringing comfort and joy
The Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs (LVTD) is a group of volunteers whose aim is to provide comfort and companionship by sharing their personal pets with people who are ill or disabled, as well as with the general public. They visit nursing homes, hospitals, schools, libraries and more. Each of the volunteers has trained his or her dog, then had it evaluated and registered with the Alliance of Therapy Dogs (formerly Therapy Dogs Incorporated), a national organization that provides the structure and guidelines for therapy dogs.

The bar for becoming a therapy dog is high. Among other things, they must be at least a year old, good around other dogs, not mind strange smells and noises, and be cool with strangers touching them all over. They also have to be up on all their shots, clean and well groomed and, of course, listen to their handlers.

Therapy dogs can come in all breeds and sizes, and the team that comes to the Emmaus Public Library is a case in point. From Carmi the Shih Tzu to Chip the Chocolate Lab, they cover the gamut.

So without further ado, meet the EPL ‘Books & Barks’ gang (in alphabetical order) — with some fun facts added by their humans:

  • BELLA: a 2-year-old Standard Blue Poodle
    Laura: “Bella is a standard blue poodle. Blue poodles are born black, but most of them turn (or ‘clear’) to a charcoal grey color by the time they are three years old. Bella is just now starting to clear. She is my shy, reserved girl, with a very serious nature (as opposed to her goofy half brother, Jack, who is coming up on four months old). Bella loves her therapy-dog visits, especially the ones that include children.”
  • CARMI: a 4.5-year-old Shih Tzu
    Linda: “Carmi loves to jump into the bathtub and drink water from the running faucet.”
  • CHIP: a 10-year-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever
    Donna: “Chip has always been a happy mellow dog, ready to learn and play, but also quick to settle and be attentive as necessary. He is a pleasure to live with and generally very well-mannered. I sometimes call him ‘Saint Chip.’ When Chip was a puppy, he just kept growing and growing. I guess you could say I got my money’s worth!”
  • LUCY: a 2.5-year-old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel
    Sally: “Lucy is obsessed with playing ‘dog ball’ with the green ball. It can’t be blue or red or any other color. It has to be the green one. She will race down the basement steps and then wait for minutes on end at the bottom for the green ball to come bouncing down the steps so that she can fetch it.”

  • PIPER: a 7-year-old American Cocker Spaniel
    Judy: “Piper can perform over 20 tricks, including answering the phone and dunking a basketball!”
  • TATER: a 10-year-old Lhasa Apso
    Cindy: “Tater likes to chase his tail around and around in a circle.”
  • TEAGAN: a 5-year-old Golden Retriever
    Diane: “One of Teagan’s favorite things is a tennis ball, which she will retrieve for as long as someone will throw it for her. Her other favorite thing is being a therapy dog, since people are as much fun as tennis balls–even better!”
  • VAYL: a 2-year-old German Shepherd
    Mary: “Vayl loves to sniff hair and play with tennis balls. She usually carries two at a time. She also smiles all the time.”

Come check out Books & Barks
We’re so grateful to the Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs (and their humans!) for sharing their love and special gifts with the library’s patrons.

If you have a budding reader at home, or a child who just loves dogs, bring them to one of our upcoming Books & Barks nights on the last Thursday of each month. The next ‘puppy parades’ happen on July 25, August 29 and September 26.

To learn more about the Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs, or if you think your own pet would make a good therapy dog, visit their website at lvtherapydogs.org for more information.

…and now for some canine trivia: Do you know where the phrase ‘the dog days of summer’ comes from?

Answer: The ancient Romans called the hottest, most humid days of summer ‘diēs caniculārēs‘ or ‘dog days.’ The name came about because they associated the hottest days of summer with the star Sirius. Sirius was known as the ‘Dog Star’ because it was the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).