Life With Dogs: Young Girl Writes Stories To Read To Shelter Dogs

Brielle Leger is a 9-year-old girl who loves dogs much like any other kid. However, her love for dogs truly goes above and beyond any other 4th grader. Brielle is an aspiring author, so she writes her own stories about dogs, complete with illustrations that her younger sister, Brynn, helps her draw. Once a week, the sisters visit the Fairhaven Animal Shelter, where they read their stories to all the dogs waiting to be adopted.

This heartwarming idea started at the beginning of the school year when Brielle’s 4th-grade teacher showed her a video of someone reading to dogs at a shelter. That video truly inspired her! Brielle already had a love for writing, so she figured that shelter dogs were the best audience to share her stories with.

“They came in and they gave us a donation for the animals,” said Terry Cripps, head of the shelter. “They went back there and I had no idea what they were doing, so I went back and I saw that they were reading. It was awesome.”

Image: Fairhaven Animal Shelter Facebook

Brielle’s Stories

Of course, all of Brielle’s stories are about dogs. She has an entire book series about a dog named Bean, who is based on her Rottweiler, Oliver. Brielle and Brynn were very close to Oliver, but he recently passed away at 16 years old.

Each of Brielle’s stories are written on standard printer paper, and they are stapled together. Brynn and Brielle work together to create adorable illustrations using markers. To the dogs, the stories are just as exciting as a published book.

“They absolutely love dogs,” said Heidi Leger, Brynn and Brielle’s mom. “Every dog they meet, they want to know the name of the dog, the breed, [the] personality. They really just enjoy dogs.”

Every time they visit, the girls bring new books to read to the dogs. It might just seem like a cute way to spend their time, but Cripps says that it actually benefits the dogs a lot. Reading to them helps socialize the dogs. So, the more time the girls spend with them, the more beneficial it is.

These sweet girls also just do this out of the kindness of their hearts. They truly love dogs and they want to make dogs happy, so they figured this was the perfect way to do it. Their mom and dad are very supportive of it too.

The Perfect Audience

Now, Brielle and Brynn are getting to know the dogs that they visit very well. Not only do they read for them, but they also bring donations and play with the dogs. So, they know a lot about each dog’s personality, which definitely helps them choose the perfect books to read!

“I think the dogs like that we’re trying to be nice to them, and I think they like the stories that we read,” said Brynn.

Even though they love visiting the dogs very much, the girls still hope that one day the shelter will be empty. Brielle thinks it would be amazing to see each and every dog get adopted. She knows her books are helping them in the meantime, but a forever family is what they truly need.

It’s clear that Brielle’s love for dogs will only continue to grow from here. When asked what she wanted to be when she grows up, she said a dog sitter! But who knows? Maybe she’ll also become a famous author!