It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks. But man's best friend apparently has few qualms about teaching young readers new literacy skills. At least that's one of the conclusions of an innovative new program called READ--Reading Education Assistance Dogs. Last November and December, kids ages four through 11 poured into the Salt Lake City Public Library hoping to read aloud to a group of six, suddenly very popular, health-service dogs. Sandi Martin, the program's originator, says that the canines, who are certified "therapy" dogs used in hospital-rehabilitation programs, help struggling (and nonstruggling) readers become less self-conscious and more confident about oral reading. Martin, a critical-care nurse who is on the board of Intermountain Therapy Animals, the nonprofit organization that provides the pooches, first came up with the idea while attempting to get some shuteye. She recalls: "I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, 'Why couldn't the same concept that we use with kids who are hospitalized or in rehab programs or in abuse programs work [with] kids who are literacy-challenged?' They're often kids with lower self-esteem, they don't have the same confidence, they have limitations. And what we've been finding with the pilot [program] that we just completed at the Salt Lake City Public Library is that those very things actually do change, and the children's reading improves." Dana Tumpowsky, the library's community relations manager, says that the program has been such a hit--more than 100 children attended the two-hour sessions, offered on four consecutive Saturdays--that the library plans to offer it again in April. And Martin says there is a strong likelihood that the canine corps may soon be dropping in on a regular basis at two area elementary schools, as part of the schools' reading programs.--R. M.