Dogs help children learn to read [Video]

Burgh, a Bernese Mountain dog, is assisting in the Tailwaggin’ Tutors program.

“When it’s time for the kids to read, they sit down, she sits down next to them and she listens,” said Carol Vernon, a library employee.

It doesn’t even matter that all the stories sound the same to Burgh.

“(The children are) breaking out of their shell,” said Chris Bohrer, the dog’s owner.  “They’re not so afraid to be around either a dog or an adult and they generally start reading louder and louder.”

The program has made for positive results.

“I just think because you’re training and reading to at least somebody before you read to an actual real person,” said Tommy Fanning of the Reading To Dogs program.  “Whether it’s getting over shyness or just getting confidence in their ability to read aloud, or whether it’s actually improving their reading, I hear about it from the parents.”

The children are going from beginning readers to chapter books in a matter of weeks.

“However you can get them to love reading or enjoy reading, I think it’s a wonderful thing,” said Janel Fanning, the mother of one of the students in the program.

Read more and watch this story: Dogs Helping Children Learn To Read