Maggie, the Therapy Dog, And Trainer Are Honored

Tanya Kingsley was honored Friday at Jasper County Primary School for her dedication to reading with the children there with her therapy dogs.

In 2010, Mrs. Kingsley was seeking to extend her therapy dog efforts with school children. She contacted Jasper County Primary School to ask if she could bring her beautiful yellow lab to read with children.

With the collaboration of then Assistant Principal, Lynn McElheney; present principal, Pam Edge; and Ginny Spurlock, then a second grade classroom teacher; a highly successful dog assisted reading program was developed. The program was named after her dog, Maggie: “Reading with Magnificent Maggie.”

To date, the program is stronger than ever, expanding from one dog team to seven and serving 16 second grade children every week. The expansion changed the program name to “Reading with Maggie and Friends.” Tanya’s model has also been replicated in two other Georgia schools.

In spite of the growth of the program, Mrs. Kingsley, herself, visits the schools every single week. Recently, magnificent Maggie succumbed to heart failure, leaving a hole in Mrs. Kingsley’s heart, but not a void in the reading program, as Mrs. Kingsley had more than one therapy dog, and now the team consists of seven dogs with trainers.

During the second grade awards program Friday at the school, Mrs. Kingsley was surprised with a portrait of Maggie and other gifts. In making the presentation, Mrs. Spurlock said they wanted her to know how much we (the other therapy dog teams) love you. “We’re all so sad…we think about how many people Maggie touched.” She went on to talk about how Tonya is doing what Jesus asked us to do by loving others and helping others through her service.

She then talked about the children who could read so much better after reading with Maggie than they did before. They said they never personally looked at results, but the children would brag on their improvement. It would certainly boost their confidence level as well.

Mrs. Kingsley has some 6,000 hours of community service on her own. She was named “Most Outstanding Volunteer” at Lynn Haven Nursing Home which she visits every week.

Mrs. Kingsley is responsible for training all seven therapy dog teams that come to Jasper County Primary School. They also visit other locations, including nursing homes and hospitals where canine therapy has proven to be helpful

She has also trained more than 40 other team members who visit hospitals, colleges, and schools regularly.

At Jasper County Primary School, they are setting up a reading corner in the library where Maggie’s portrait will hang. They also gave Mrs. Kingsley a pillow and other goodies to remain in the reading corner and they also plan to donate books.

More about the program can be found at the group’s Facebook page, K-nine Angels.