golden tales

If you would like to share a tale about your experience with your rescued golden, send to webmaster@azgrc.org.  Please attach a photo and include the dog's name.

a golden visit to grayhawk elementary school

Lauren Rogers and Christine Orantes were invited by Ms. Robin F. Speer, 3^rd grade teacher at Grayhawk Elementary School to give a demonstration about Rescue and dog care to a Junior Vet class on June 10^th.

So, how do you teach 3rd graders about Rescue and more importantly make it fun?

Here is how Goldens Bette Davis, Cody along with Laurie and Christine did it…

Supplies:  

• Bring one, two or three well behaved Goldens (the more the merrier) with wagging tails and happy hearts along their handlers. Be sure the Goldens love to be swarmed by children, hugged and petted till they are ready to leave.

• Stethoscope, lab coats, don’t have those handy - bring a tooth brush, (the dog’s, not yours) or anything you may have that would interest children about Vet discussion.

• Fleas and tick dog toys along with  capes (we’ll explain later)

• Script of topics to be discussed…hope you can stick to it since children ask lots of questions and have lots of comments.

  • What does it mean when a dog comes from rescue?

  • Do you have dogs of your own? Who takes care of the dog? Who feeds the dog? Who exercises or walks the dog? You get the idea…

  • What do you do when you meet someone walking a dog and you want to pet the dog? What if the dog does not have an owner and makes you feel uncomfortable? What does it mean to act like a tree or a rock?

  • Talk about pool safety and how to make a dog pool safe.

• Bring doggie treats

• Time to let the children ask questions and make comments. The same child may even raise their hand multiple times to tell you they have a dog.

School visit:

• We arrived at the class room and were immediately greeted by the children and Ms. Speer. Who could ask for a better way to start than with lots of hugs for the dogs and wagging Golden tails?

We knew somewhere within the two piles on the floor Bette Davis and Cody were getting acquainted with the children.

• The script was followed as best we could, since the children were busy interacting with the Goldens and talked about their dogs.

• One of the highlights of visit was when we outfitted two children with a lab coat and stethoscope. Thankfully Laurie, with her medical background, had those in her bag of tricks.

They listened to their own heart beats and then to the dogs’ heartbeats and were asked to describe what they heard. It’s amazing to watch the wonder in a child’s eyes hearing heartbeats for the first time.

• Next we told the children to cover their eyes for we had a surprise. While we continued to talk about Vet care for the dogs, the children sat tightly covering their eyes (with no peeking) so we could outfit the dogs for the big surprise.

When the children uncovered their eyes, Cody and Bette Davis were covered with oversized fleas and tick dog toys. We are not quite sure who was more amused: the children, Ms. Speer, the dogs or us.  

As we hurried to detach the fleas and ticks from Bette and Cody we tossed them toward the children. The laughter and squealing of happy children was the result. One of the children noted he had a dog that was a clown too!

• Thumbs up for the children as they practiced being trees and rocks in order to keep safe while our dogs walked by.

• As our visit drew to an end, the children were invited to give treats to Bette Davis and Cody for all their hard work and tricks.  

Thank you to Ms. Speer and the children:

The children sadly waved good bye from the door, we thanked Ms. Speer for inviting us and to all for being so wonderful. We left with the Goldens wagging their tails knowing we all shared love that day.

Click below to read the notes from the children.