SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
When Keeper puts on his red vest, it's business time. The eight-year-old Golden Retriever is a therapy dog - one of four that stop by the Yellowknife Public Library every Saturday for a reading session with children.

Lin Maus and therapy dog Keeper stop by the library on Saturday so that children can read in a comfortable, non-threatening environment. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo

"He's completely different with the vest on. He knows he's working, he knows there are expectations that go with that," said Lin Maus, Keeper's owner. "It's part of the process. He gets brushed up, put on a short leash - he's usually walked on an longer leash - and he knows where he's going, he knows he's going to the library or he knows he's going to Avens."

The red St. John's Ambulance vest identifies Keeper as a therapy dog, which he has done several rounds of testing to become. In order to pass, dogs have to prove they are calm and gentle and don't react unexpectedly to stimulation.

Although his calm temperament remains, Keeper's ears perk up as young voices enter the library.

"He looks forward to meeting people," Maus said. "He has a typical Golden personality in the fact that he loves people and he is easy to train."

Between 1 and 2 p.m. for about half the year, Keeper and other therapy dogs rotate Saturday shifts at the library where individual children or families reserve 20 minutes to sit on the carpet and read to them.

The Therapy Animals Involved in Literacy Success (TAILS) program has been offered in Yellowknife for six years, said Maus - she signed on four years ago.

"The theory is, kids are more comfortable around animals, and it would be a way for them to read without feeling threatened. They get the opportunity to have something that is calming and gentle beside them and then they can read without being in the spotlight," said Maus. "It's amazing how quickly they buy in to having the dog next to them."

Within a 20-minute session, she said there is an evident improvement in the reading comfort level of the children.

"It's to help with literacy," said Jennifer Royal, library assistant. "It's less threatening, they're not being judged on how well they read because it's a dog."

TAILS is a popular program at the library, Royal said. Even if all of the spots are booked for a weekend, families will come in just in case a spot opens up.

The program's focus on literacy is, in a way, an extension of Maus' job, she said. As the program lead for Tlicho and Yellowknife region community programs at Aurora College, Maus works on a great deal of literacy programming. This wasn't exactly her reasoning for joining TAILS, she said, it was rather the temperament of her previous Golden Retriever that was perfectly fitting to the role.

"I started the program with another Golden that I got as a mature adult and she was born to be a Golden therapy dog," said Maus. "She was just an intuitive therapy dog. Keeper took a few more years to channel his exuberance."

After training, testing and a few more years under his belt, Maus said Keeper has certainly taken to the role - particularly when he has his red vest on.

"He has fit in to the same kind of process but it took him longer," Maus laughed. "He's more of a guy."