“It’s great to see some of them come out of their shell,” Sting’s human John Muellner told The Dodo. “I mean think about it, when’s the last time you read out loud for 20 minutes?”
Sting is a pretty happy dog and he absolutely loves people. More specifically, he loves to help people and often volunteers as a therapy dog.
So, that’s why he’s volunteered at White Bear Lake Library’s “Paws to Read” program in Minnesota for about two years.
The program involves Sting hanging out with some kids at the library while children between the ages of 4 and 8 read to Sting to help them gain overall confidence as well as feel good about books, reading, and public speaking.
Source:
John Muellner
Sting usually gets super excited to hang out with the kids, however, no one signed up for the program last week.
“I actually knew nobody signed up that afternoon, but Ann the librarian was going to try and drum up some business,” Muellner said. “And since it’s fairly close to us, I thought why not just go?”
Source:
Ann Wahlstrom
So, Muellner knew that they’d probably be sitting alone for a while.
But Stinky was not prepared for the shock and boredom he would endure once he realized that no one was coming.
You can see the panic start to set in in the picture below.
Source:
John Muellner
He nervousness then turns into heartbreak.
Source:
John Muellner
From there it progresses to full-blown depression.
Source:
John Muellner
Muellner felt so bad for his pup that he made a post on Facebook with pictures of Sting’s sad doggy face and invited people to come on down to the library next time.
“Unfortunately, nobody signed up to read to Sting at the White Bear Lake library tonight. If you know of a 4 to 8yr old who would like to read to a dog. Please contact the White Bear Lake library by phone or their website about the Paws to Read program. Sting will be there Feb 21st 6:30 – 7:30,” his post read.
The internet went insane over it and shared the post more than 100,000 times.
Calls started pouring into the library and Sting is booked for the next few months.
“It’s been insane,” Muellner said. “I guess these days nothing surprises me with the internet. But the amount and with responses worldwide is a bit astounding.”
Source:
John Muellner
“People are asking if we could hold the phone to Sting’s ear so they could read to him,” librarian Ann Wahlstrom told TODAY. “The whole staff of a Petco in California called to say they love Sting. It’s just amazing, the outpouring.”
Apparently, everyone wanted to see Sting smile again and that’s definitely going to happen now that he will be helping lots of children find their love of reading.
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By D.G. Sciortino
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D.G. is a contributing writer in Shareably. She's based in Connecticut and can be reached at [email protected].