“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 sweet, happy dog who loves people. He has a calm nature, which makes him a great therapy dog.
Sting’s favorite place to volunteer is at White Bear Lake Library in Minnesota. He’s part of the ‘Paws to Read’ program.
Source:
Facebook/Luigi & Sofia with Sting & Colin memories
The program involves Sting hanging out at the library while children between the ages of four and eight read to him. It helps them gain overall confidence as well as feel good about books, reading, and public speaking.
Sting usually gets super excited to hang out with the kids, however, no one signed up for the program one day.
Source:
Facebook/Luigi & Sofia with Sting & Colin memories
“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?”
So, Muellner knew that they’d probably be sitting alone for a while.
But Sting 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
His nervousness then turns into heartbreak.
Muellner felt so bad for his pup that he made a post on Facebook with pictures of Sting’s sad doggy face. He invited people to come on down to the library next time.
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John Muellner
“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 post went viral. It was shared more than 100,000 times.
Calls started pouring into the library, and Sting was 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.”
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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.”
Everyone wanted to see Sting smile again. It’s so sweet to see how much everyone loved the pup.
Sting spent many great years at the library before he sadly passed away. But his legacy continues on with his dog siblings, Luigi and Sofia. The pair now often go to the library, and they love having kids read to them as much as Sting did.
Source:
Facebook/Luigi & Sofia with Sting & Colin memories
Sting is a sweet dog who spent many years doing what he enjoyed most: hanging with humans who loved him. What a sweet pup.
Check out a video about Sting below!
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By Patricia Lynn
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Patricia Lynn is a senior writer at Shareably. Patricia is based out of San Francisco and can be reached at [email protected].