Reading aloud is a skill many people take for granted. Speaking before groups can be a painful, humiliating experience for someone who has difficulty reading or a speech impediment.

“They may be shy about reading out loud,” ‘Sit, Stay, Read’ program coordinator Sonja Presley said. “They may have older brothers and sisters who are excellent readers and they want to be like them.”

‘Sit, Stay, Read,’ offered at the Daphne Public Library this month—the last installment is from 2 to 3 p.m. Friday in the library’s Community Room—brings dogs to sit and listen to children as they practice reading aloud.

Audiences can sometimes be cruel—with children being the most vicious, laughing or making fun of a troubled reader.

Dogs, on the other hand, won’t judge someone if they have a lisp or if they stumble over simple, short sentences, organizers said.

“They are the best listeners,” Presley said. “They’re non-critical and non-judgmental. “

When they are reading to the dogs, “kids forget their limitations,” Presley said.

“I think it’s a great idea because the dogs are not intimidating,” said Jenny Robbins, whose daughters, Emma and Grace Ann, attended Friday’s session.

“The kids can relax around them.”

“It’s about allowing the kids an opportunity to practice their reading,” volunteer Cathy Blake said. “It’s a very comfortable environment (in which) to read.”

Presley plans to expand the program—which currently runs at the Daphne and Robertsdale libraries—this fall to include regular visits to Rockwell and Robertsdale elementary schools.

The program recently received a $200 donation from an anonymous Robertsdale library patron. The money was used to print T-shirts and bandanas emblazoned with the program’s logo.

Presley seeks a corporate sponsor to help actualize a reading-rewards program she has conceived.

“The ambition is that we have a reward for the kids that we track for reading a certain number of books,” she said. “I’d like to have the kids come each weekend so they can earn a shirt.”

The young readers would receive T-shirts for meeting their reading goals.

Emma Robbins, 6, who attended Friday’s session, said her favorite part is when the dogs sleep as she reads to them.

Her sister, Grace Ann, 9, enjoys feeling like she’s teaching the dogs.

“They’re so cute,” she said. “It’s like you’re teaching them how to read.”

“I like to pet them as I read,” Madison James, 6, said.

Paeton Jones, 8, agreed with James.

“I liked to pet and rub them,” she said.

Presley says it’s all part of getting young people better acquainted with the library.

“These kids have so much electronic stimuli and we’re just trying to get them comfortable reading books at the library,” she said.

Friday’s attendees chose dog-themed books to read to their canine counterparts including: “Dogzilla,” by Dav Pilkey; “Big Dog, Little Dog,” by P.D. Eastman; and selections from Norman Bridwell’s “Clifford the Big Red Dog” reading series.

Similar programs are catching on across the country. In Salt Lake City, Utah, a group called Intermountain Therapy Animals has developed a training program known as Reading Education Assistance Dogs.

The motivation to start programs like ‘Sit, Stay, Read’ can be found in a series of studies conducted at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, demonstrating that proximity to animals lowers blood pressure and has a calming effect on humans.

One study involved putting children alone in a quiet room to read while monitoring their blood pressure.

“When they’d start to read, their blood pressure would instantly go up,” James Lynch, director of Baltimore’s Life Care Health Clinic, said. “Then, when we simply put a dog in to wander around the room, the blood pressure quickly lowered.”

He added that the animal’s presence diverted the child’s attention from performance anxiety or other fears that make academic performance more difficult.

“If you ask me to bet on it, I’d say it’s 10-to-one that reading retention goes up when the dogs are involved.”

It wasn’t by accident that Cookie, Gracie, Hoss, Maddi, Pia, River, Dolce and Versace found their way into the Daphne library’s reading rooms. They weren’t wandering around searching for bones to chew on or balls to play with.

Before they could become trained listeners, this group of dogs had to complete the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Program.

The prospective dog listeners are tested on: accepting a friendly stranger; sitting politely for petting; appearance and grooming; walking through a crowd; sitting on command and staying in place; coming when called; reaction to another dog and distraction; and supervised separation.

“They have to be able to lay down while kids are reading to them and not move around,” Petsmart trainer Hillary Ducote said. “They have to get along with other dogs in the room.”

Ducote conducts personal training evaluations for owners interested in getting their dogs certified.

“It’s like the equivalent of a college degree for dogs,” Presley said.

The Canine Good Citizen Program—which recognizes dogs with good manners in the community and at home—teaches responsible dog ownership and basic training for dogs, according to those associated with it.

“Any dog, any size, any age, any breed,” can be certified, according to Ducote.

The fall season of ‘Sit, Stay, Read’ will begin at the Daphne library at 5 p.m. Aug. 13 in the community room and will continue to meet each Thursday.

For more information, visit www.wowzaphotography.com/sitstayread or call 591-4837.