Borrowing a book from the library is one thing, but how about a dog?
A new event put on by the Vancouver Public Library, the Vancouver Park Board and St. John Ambulance will give locals the chance to do just that.
On Sept. 14, from 1 to 3 p.m., six dogs big and small will be at Emery Barnes Park to be "checked out," like a library book, and read to.
"What people will be able to do is they'll be able to take out a dog for 15 minutes, read some poetry to it and get to know the dog owner and the dog," Candie Tanaka, programming and learning event coordinator for VPL, told CTV News Vancouver.
The goal of the event, called the Canine Library, is to improve relationships between dog owners and non-owners in parks.
Tanaka said the library was approached with this idea, and that it aligned well with a program they already run with St. John Ambulance called Paws 4 Stories. In those events, which aim to increase literacy among children, dogs come to the library and are read to by kids who want to practice their reading.
"We know that our dogs are non-judgemental," said Ashten Black, community services programs and outreach manager for St. John Ambulance.
"For the kids in particular what we find when they are reading to the dogs is there's a lot more comfort. There's a lot more openness to make errors because we always joke that the dogs don't know."
St. John Ambulance, which is a donation-funded charity, has a large team of therapy dogs across the province, but only some are evaluated to work with kids. These dogs need to be especially easy-going and good-mannered.
At Canine Library, all the dogs will be assigned a book of poetry that relates in some way to animals or parks.
"You'll check the dog out with that book and have a moment of joy and some comfort and hopefully have a really positive literacy experience with one of our dogs," Black said.
If the event goes well, there may be others like it in the future.
