Bosco The Therapy Dog

Bosco is a happy dog who lives in the city

He loves playing fetch with his friend Lola

The day he was adopted, Lola's parents knew there was something special about him.

Lola's parents had sent Bosco to a special school for dogs so he could learn to be a helper dog for Lola.

You see, Lola is shy and has a hard time making friends, especially at school.

Sometimes when you are shy and quiet kids can be unkind.

One night while mom was tucking Lola into bed, under her warm soft covers she asked."How would you like to take your best friend to school tomorrow?

Lola smiled widely"Oh yes!" Bosco seemed to smile too, whatever mom said must have made Lola very happy.

The next morning in the car Lola was feeling butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Bosco can sense this and lays his head on her chest to calm her down

At school, teachers and students whisper and smiled as they see Bosco going toward Mrs. Brown's second-grade classroom.

When they reached the door Bosco sat and waited for Lola to let him know it was time to go in.

When the door opened Lola saw all the kids sitting in their seats waiting for the first dog ever to visit their classroom.

As Lola walked in, all the children reached out to pet Bosco's soft fur, Bosco enjoyed this and wagged his tail happily.

Mrs. Brown hugged Lola and told her to sit on the carpet with Bosco. Lola's mom sat next to Mrs. Brown and waited.

Mrs. Brown placed her finger on her lips and pointed to Lola's mom who started to speak.

"Hello, boys and girls, I am Lola's mom and I have come to visit you today with Bosco to talk about how wonderful differences can be.".

"If you look at your friends sitting next to you, you will notice their eyes are different than yours and their smile is different as well."

We each are special and have gifts to share, for example, she pointed to a blonde-haired boy sitting next to Mrs. Brown, "Your gift might be sharing a toy."

Next, she pointed to a little girl with a pink ribbon in her hair and said, "Your gift might be hugging a friend when they scrape their knee."

Each of us has something special to give."We need to think more about helping our friends instead of hurting them.

She turned toward Bosco and started petting him, then said" We all need to be more like Bosco, he loves people just the way they are.

He knows people are being kind when they offer him a treat or play ball with him.

He gets scared just like you do whenever people yell at him or call him mean names.

Lola's mom looked around the class and spotted a little girl sitting off to the side quiet and shy. She smiled at Lola who knew just what to do.

Quietly Lola went over and asked "Would you like to pet Bosco? He is a lot of help when I feel all quiet and alone.

The little girl nodded and crept closer to Bosco and whispered. "Will you be my friend ?"

Bosco licked her hand and he looked at Lola. She knew he was asking her if she would also be this girl's friend.

'Would you like to be my friend too?" The two girls sat next to Bosco and talked while petting him.

Lola felt secure knowing Bosco was there and that he not only helped her that day he also helped her to make a new friend.