The Woman Who Soothes Shelter Dogs By Reading To Them

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After losing her beloved dog to pneumonia last year, Sandy Barbabella decided to help dogs at her local animal shelter armed only with her soothing voice and a stack of children's books.

"I go to the Humane Society to read to the dogs and pet them and talk to them,'' Barbabella told TODAY.com. "They do more for me than I do for them. So many of them are so scared and afraid that just the voice relaxes them. A lot of them lay against the door of the cage, and they sleep against the cage."

"My daughter was looking at old pictures and she said, 'Every picture you're in, there's a dog with you,''' Barbabella said. "I said, 'I never thought of it, but you're right.' I've just always loved them."

http://www.today.com/news/meet-sandy-barbabella-woman-who-soothes-shelter-dogs-reading-them-t38066
 
What a beautiful soul. I love reading the good that some people do. Although it's sad that the animals are incarcerated simply for being orphans. I pray they all find loving families.
 
Wow. Thanks for posting this! My basset hound, Gracie, is a therapy dog. Being read to by kids is her favorite thing we get to do. It's s wonderful way to relax and connect with dogs.
 
Aww...this brings tears to my eyes, what a lovely lady!
 
:tyou: I just read the story on my homepage and was going to post it! A beloved beagle that we had for nearly 14 years loved having someone read to him. Later, our Jack Russell (who had nearly 16 wonderful years) didn't like us reading aloud and would get up from the sofa and leave :D
 
Years ago, I bought a book of bedtime stories for dogs for my mother's chihuahua and would read them to her. They were fun parodies of popular fairy tales, featuring dogs. I'm not sure, but Mini seemed to like certain stories better than others. ;)

Also, when I was a kid (maybe 8 years old), I would sit on the swing in our back yard reading Bible stories to our neighbors' hunting dogs. They loved it! They were kept in a pen, so it was probably the only truly positive interaction they had with humans. The dogs would often howl and bark, but they got very quiet whenever I started reading. The moment I stopped reading, they began howling and barking again but would get quiet again once I resumed reading.
 
:tyou: I just read the story on my homepage and was going to post it! A beloved beagle that we had for nearly 14 years loved having someone read to him. Later, our Jack Russell (who had nearly 16 wonderful years) didn't like us reading aloud and would get up from the sofa and leave :D

I can relate to that. I love all animals, but I'm mostly a bird person. When I had mostly budgies, I'd sing to them and they'd sit and sing and tweet back to me. Except one. I don't cage my birds but have them available if they want to go in , sleep there etc.
One of my females would be sitting on top of the cage and I would be standing there talking to her, but the minute I would start singing she would fly off.lol
 
I used to read James Herriott's "Dog Stories" to my Springer Spaniel. She loved it!
 

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