Buddy the therapy dog visits many different classrooms at his local elementary school to listen to the students read. Some of these classes include students in the English Language Learning program. Many of the ELL children are from countries where dogs are not domesticated and the kids are taught to fear the animals. This is an opportunity for Buddy to show them that dogs aren’t a threat.  The kids learn how to safely approach and work with dogs.  Once the fear is gone, children are able to read to Buddy with ease and confidence. 

Buddy loves having kids read to him. His handler Christie Lindemann believes he has listened to over 3,800 kids read in the past three years. Buddy and Liedemann’s passion for education continues even after the weekly 4 hours of volunteer time that they give South Elementary. This passion has pushed them to create Buddy’s Little Free Library. Liedemann’s son, a huge supporter of Buddy’s work, raised over $200.00 to build and supply the library with new books. This little library was a family effort, and it is making a change in their community, giving kids access to books they may not have had access to before.