HCWS’s newest program, “Tales To Tails”, is a children’s literacy program utilizing trained dogs who are read to by children. We started in our first school, Monaco Middle School, March 16th with 5 teams (a team consist of one human and one dog). School teachers recommended students who could benefit from this program whether because of shyness, stuttering problems, language barriers or just embarrassment of lacking in their reading abilities. The fundamental concept behind this program is to develop a safe, non-threatening environment for children to practice reading out loud to a dog while the handlers are there to help with pronunciation of difficult words. Tales To Tails participants showed major improvements in reading levels, self image and confidence. The test scores from session one and two showed a 30% - 50% improvement in their comprehension & vocabulary from the first test to the third test.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to work with special need children as well. In these classes, not only were the children excited to read, but they learned kindness and respect towards animals, which carried over to their fellow classmates.

One of our team members, Leslie Bruno, was generous enough to be the first sponsor of this unique program through her company, Pro-Tect Security. She is ranked #1 for Women Owned Businesses in the Book of Lists for 2006. Leslie, an animal lover from birth, credits learning love and compassion for animals from her mother who always made sure they had a house full of animals in need of care. Leslie who has lived in Las Vegas most of her life and graduated from UNLV, feels the need to help local grass root organizations like HCWS and has a son, Daniel, who is following in her footsteps by helping her take care of their two horses and five dogs.

If you'd like to volunteer for the Tales To Tails program, download our Volunteer Application and our Rules for Handlers Form.