Research Clubs: Elephants, Penguins, and Frogs, Oh My! Grade 3: Nonfiction, Unit 4

Research Clubs: Elephants, Penguins, and Frogs, Oh My! Grade 3: Nonfiction, Unit 4 Readers, today you will read three texts to learn more about guide dogs, special animals that help their blind owners. Read text 1, then answer questions 1 and 2 on a separate sheet of paper. Then, read text 2, and answer question 3. Finally, read text 3 and answer question 4. 1. Summarize text 1, Guide Dog Training. When summarizing, remember to: write about the main idea include important details keep your summary ½ page or less leave out what s not important. 2. Why do you think the author of Guide Dog Training included the section Kenny s Story? When writing about how one part of the article fits with another, remember to: explain how this part connects to other part(s) of the text use linking words to show how this section fits with the other part(s). Main Idea(s) and Supporting Details/Summary Analyzing Parts of a Text in Relation to the Whole 3. What has to happen before a blind owner can take home a guide dog? Use information from more than one article in your response. When synthesizing (fitting together information from both texts), remember to: focus on the subtopic include information from each text that fits with this subtopic. 4. Read text 3, Getting Ready to Bring Home a Dog. Compare and contrast what this text and text 2, Guide Dogs and Their Owners A Special Bond, teach about the big idea of getting ready for a dog. When comparing and contrasting, remember to: Write about the similarities and differences in the specific information presented in the two texts. Cross-Text(s) Synthesis Comparing and Contrasting

Text 1 Guide Dog Training There are many people in the world who are blind. Because they can t see, they need some help getting around. They get help from surprising helpers: dogs! Dogs who help blind people are called guide dogs. Not just any dog can be a guide dog. Read on to find out the long journey a dog makes from puppy to fully trained guide dog. 1 5 Puppies-in-Training Some puppies are bred to be guide dogs. When they are about 8 weeks old, they go to live with a training family. There are no blind people in this family. The dog is not ready to help yet. First, the people in the family help the puppy! The family takes the dog everywhere: on elevators and stairs, in cars, airplanes and boats, in libraries, hospitals and shopping malls. This helps the puppy learn to be comfortable in lots of different places. After all, when it grows up, it needs to be comfortable in all kinds of places. The process of teaching a puppy to be comfortable everywhere a human might go is called socialization. A puppy lives with a training family for over a year before it is sent to guide dog school. 10 15 Text 1: Guide Dog Training page 1

Time for School Guide dog school is where the real training begins. Guide dogs live at the school with special trainers. They learn to follow special commands, like Forward, Left, and Right. They also learn to wear a harness that helps a blind person follow a dog closely. A guide dog wearing a harness Guide dogs stay in these schools for 4 6 months. Then they are ready to help blind people move around safely. 20 Kenny s Story Though guide dogs are taught to follow a very strict list of commands, they are also taught intelligent disobedience. Intelligent disobedience means not following a command if it will cause danger for the owner. One day, a blind woman named Diane was walking with her guide dog, Kenny. The light was green and she said, Kenny, forward. Kenny almost stepped forward, but then he stopped in his tracks. Forward, Diane commanded again but Kenny still did not move. Then a car came around the corner. Kenny had kept Diane safe. 25 Text 1: Guide Dog Training page 2

Guide Dogs at Work and Play When a guide dog goes home with an owner, the owner has to keep training the dog. For example, owners have to use correct commands and give their guide dogs plenty of praise to reward them for doing a great job. The owner is careful not to play with the dog while the harness is on, so the dog doesn t forget that it s working! Once the harness is off and the dog is at home, it can play and have fun just like any other dog. Guide dogs can work until they are about 10 years old. After that, they get to retire, or stop working. Some blind owners keep their retired guide dogs as pets or give the guide dogs to someone in their family. Guide dogs go through a lot of training. It s important, because they have such an important job. 30 35 40 Image on page 2 Jeroen van den Broek/Shutterstock/ HIP Image this page Don Farrall/Getty Images/HIP Text 1: Guide Dog Training page 3

Text 2 Guide Dogs and Their Owners A Special Bond Trusted leader, partner, hero these are all words to describe guide dogs. But a future owner needs to go through a whole process before meeting and owning one of these incredible animals. A blind person who wants a guide dog can t get one right away. First, guide dog trainers visit the blind person s home. They check to make sure the home is safe for a dog. Then a trainer teaches the owner to give commands and to work with the special harness that guide dogs wear. Finally, the trainer pretends to be a guide dog named Juno to test the owner. The trainer holds an empty harness and pretends to be a guide dog. The owner holds the other end of the harness and gives commands. If the owner passes this test, he or she can get a guide dog. 1 5 10 Text 2: Guide Dogs and Their Owners A Special Bond page 1

Once they are together, the owner and dog become close friends. The owner needs to have trust and courage to allow the guide dog to lead the way. It s hard to follow a dog when walking in crowded places, when you can t see where you re going. You have to let the dog s eyes be your eyes. Speaking about life with his guide dog, one owner said, The partnership between my dog, Island, and me is one of trust and confidence. She is my pathfinder. The two are really partners, because neither the owner nor the dog is the boss all the time. This takes a lot of trust and a lot of communication. Because of guide dogs, blind owners have more freedom. They can go out in public and not depend on other people to help them at every turn. They can get through crowded grocery store aisles. They can get on and off buses and trains. With their guide dogs as partners, they can move through the world. 15 20 25 Woman with guide dog image Tibanna79/Shutterstock Text 2: Guide Dogs and Their Owners A Special Bond page 2

Text 3 Getting Ready to Bring Home a Dog Buy food, treats, a leash and collar, a food and water bowl, and toys! 1 Set up a place for the dog to sleep a dog bed or a crate. Figure out a schedule for walking the dog or letting the dog out to go to the bathroom. Be sure the dog is safe in your home. Take away small objects that the dog might chew or swallow. 5 Choose a veterinarian, an animal doctor who can give your dog a checkup and give it the right shots. Adapted from the American Kennel Club (a group that makes rules for dog breeders) Text 3: Getting Ready to Bring Home a Dog page 1