About Us
Helping Hounds Inc. DBA PJ's Pals
All about Helping Hounds Inc, DBA PJ’s Pals
How PJ’s Pals started
In 2001 a friend saw an article in Dog Fancy about the new R.E.A.D. program and told me about it. Nancy went for it and her husband Larry and Nancy drove to Utah to be trained by Kathy Klotz and Sandi Martin. We began as a part of Paw Prints Dog Club with 10 original teams. In Sept of 2003 we made our first visits at Apple Valley Library and in Oct. we started Mariana School. Then in 2004 we incorporated as Helping Hounds Inc. a 501(c)(3).. The group named our R.E.A.D. group PJ’s Pals after Nancy's dog PJ because he was a natural therapy dog. He passed away in Oct. 2012. His Pals are keeping the program going with over 30 teams working and a total of nearly 30 dogs. Although we started as a R.E.A.D. group we have expanded our group and who we visit.
R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs)
R.E.A.D. started in 1999 when Sandi Martin, an ER nurse thought; “If dogs help people in hospitals, why couldn’t they help kids read?”
Into the Future
We are still affiliated with the Intermountain Therapy R.E.A.D. program, having placed books in the hands of hundreds of children thanks to generous donations and support from our community. A special thank you to Delta Kappa Gamma for sponsoring PJ’s Pals for so many years. Their donation of thousands of books have made it possible for us to fulfill our motto: “Helping to improve children’s literacy, one paw in one hand at a time.”
We continue to test and train new teams striving for excellence with our program.