Liesa LaBossiere's grades 2 and 3 students are reading Smokey and the Gorilla by Sylvia McNicoll.

The novel is about a boy who thinks that the black lab who lives with his family is a pain.

In the book, Smokey is in training to become a guide dog for Canine Vision Canada.

Zeus, a one-year-old Labrador retriever, visited the Golden Ears Elementary classroom with his handler Vanessa Park on Tuesday.

Like Smokey, Zeus is also training to become a guide dog.

Park is involved with Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind (CGDB) and has been Zeus' puppy walker - or foster - for a year.

Park brought Zeus to LaBossiere's class for show and tell and was interviewed by the children, who are taking part in the one-to-one iPod Touch program, intended to improve reading fluency, student engagement, and students' attitudes about reading.

The school district is using iPod Touches to help the learning experience for students in seven classrooms, including LaBossiere's.

These new tools are useful in showing how technology can be helpful in a classroom situation, explained LaBossiere.

"This is a fun way to combine writing, reading, questioning, and making connections with the Gorilla novel," said LaBossiere.

w CGDB places puppies at about seven weeks with foster families who raise the pups for a year.

The puppy walkers socialize the puppies, which are mainly golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers, to as many different, everyday environments as possible.

The socialization begins in the home and gradually advances to quiet areas and works up to restaurants, shopping malls, transit, elevators, and even classrooms. Zeus has spent the last year training for the next stage. He leaves for Ontario later this week.

smclaren@mrtimes.com