Meet Ceili, the Therapy Dog at the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library

Monday, May 13 is a special day for the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library’s four-legged friend, a golden doodle named Ceili, who is another year older.

Ceili, who will soon be 7, has been a therapy dog ​​at the Cutchogue New Suffolk Library for five years, according to her owner, Cutchogue resident Marla Koster.

“It’s such a fun and wonderful program,” Ms. Koster said. “She loves going to the library, if I have her in the car and I stop at the library and it’s not a day for her to go in, she gets very upset, she cries because ‘she wants to come in, she wants to go see all her friends at the library.

Children can read to Ceili at the library all year round, according to Mignon Osmer, head of youth service.

“Sometimes she comes once a month, sometimes she comes twice a month, it really depends on how many registrations we have,” Ms. Osmer said. “She is very gentle with children, she is a hypoallergenic dog, so there are no allergy problems.”

Young readers can bring their own book or borrow one from the library, and each participant is assigned a 15-minute reading session with Ceili.

“If there are no other children registered or if someone doesn’t show up, they just take the place of the next one,” Ms. Osmer said.

Ceili is very popular with the community and has many loyal customers who want to read with her, according to Osmer.

Before Ceili arrived, an Italian Greyhound and two Great Danes made the trip from Ronkonkoma for the reading program, but the long drive made it difficult to continue that service. Mrs. Koster’s daughter, Bonnie Zelner, spoke about Ceili at the library.

“We are delighted,” Ms Osmer said.

Ms. Koster worked as a microbiologist at Plum Island for more than 36 years and when she retired, she knew she wanted to get involved with therapy dogs.

“I knew I wanted to do something with my time once I retired and I thought having a dog that would be a therapy dog ​​that I could take to hospitals and things like that would be a good thing to do.” , she said.

After some research, Ms. Koster settled on the Golden Doodle breed because of its cuteness. She adopted Ceili when she was nine weeks old.

“We’ve done training here with several different trainers,” Ms. Koster said of Ceili’s therapy certification. “I also did training with her at PetSmart, which was a really cool program.

“It’s just a way to give back to the community,” Ms. Koster said. “It’s a great way to connect with other people.”

For more information about the reading program, visit the Cutchogue New Suffolk Library website at cutchoguelibrary.org or contact the library at 631-734-6360.

“Any way to promote children, literacy and reading so that they don’t feel uncomfortable, they don’t feel like they’re being judged,” Ms. Osmer said, “ It is a very good thing”.