A miniature dachshund who sits with children while they read aloud at a Roehampton primary school has been named a finalist in a national award for service dogs.
Daisy, a long-haired cream dachshund, is shortlisted in the wellbeing and therapy dog category of the UK Service Dogs Awards. The ceremony is on Thursday 1 October at Avisford Park Hotel in West Sussex.
“To be selected by the judging panel from so many nominations is a tremendous achievement,” the organisers said.
Daisy works with her owner, Claire King, who is a GP at Glebe Road Surgery in Barnes. Neither of them is paid. They go into schools through Underdog International, a charity that trains dogs and their owners and then sends them into classrooms. King said the most school Daisy visits most often in Wandsworth is Sacred Heart on Roehampton Lane.
What the dog actually does
Reading out loud in class is hard if you are not good at it. Other children fidget. Somebody jumps in with the word. Somebody laughs. Daisy does none of that. She sits there and lets the child get to the end of the sentence in their own time.
The sessions are part of a programme called Dogs in Schools, which pairs reading practice with visits meant to help children calm down. The charity says reading to a dog takes away the pressure that makes a struggling reader give up.
King says it is not only about reading. Children who cannot say something out loud will sometimes say it to Daisy. Her presence, King says, can help children “feel safe enough to talk about things they may have found difficult to express”.
Daisy has a following on Instagram (@daisydogtherapy), where King posts clips of her visits and is every bit as adorable as you would expect. One, filmed on a hospital visit last year, was liked more than 24,000 times.
The awards are run jointly by two charities, Service Dogs UK and the National Foundation for Retired Service Animals. They cover assistance dogs, military dogs, emergency services dogs, rescue and lifesaving dogs, and therapy work. This is the second year the medals have been awarded.
The winners are announced on the night.
Underdog International is looking for more owners to train their dogs for the same work. Details are on its website.
