George was reading. Milo was licking. Both were participating in the Wagging Tales reading program at the Pacific Beach\/Taylor Branch Library. The dog-meets-kid hour is offered on the first Saturday of every month from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Though 12-year-old George Eger was fascinated by the book he was reading on the Titanic, Luna, a 4\u00bd-year-old yellow lab, and Milo, a mixed breed, just enjoyed the company. George has participated in Wagging Tales since it started about seven years ago, the brainchild of Pacific Beach pre-teen Rachel Sherman, who is now in college. The program, which matches certified therapy dogs with young readers, is designed to boost the children\u2019s confidence in reading. The pet is a calming influence on anxious readers, according to Helene Sherman, Rachel\u2019s mom, who jokes about having to take over 11\u00bd-year-old Cody\u2019s leash when her daughter headed for college. But Sherman lauds the program, which she said allows children to read without anyone correcting them. “The program encourages children to read out loud in a relaxing environment,” said Michelle Clark, youth services librarian. She realizes, though, that some of the youngsters come simply to play with the dogs \u2014 and that\u2019s OK. “Whatever reason they come, it\u2019s good to get them to the library,” she said. Anywhere from three to 25 children, ranging in age from 2 to 12, and up to five dogs certified by Therapy Dogs Inc. attend the monthly program. George said the family cat “won\u2019t sit still for me to read.” Ron Eger, the pre-teen\u2019s dad, jokes, “We kept the program alive since George was 5 \u2026 George has a short attention span. Reading to the dogs helps him relax while he reads. It lessens his anxiety. George is totally like a different person [when he\u2019s reading to the animals].” In addition to this program, the Pacific Beach Library has a variety of other children\u2019s activities. On the schedule are:<\/b> \u2022 Pajama Storytime and Crafts, ages 2-6; Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. \u2022 Preschool Storytime, ages 2-4; first, second and fifth Thursdays from 10:30 to 11 a.m. \u2022 Music Together, babies to age 5; third Thursdays, from 10:30 to 11 a.m. \u2022 Sign-A-Story Circle Time (sign language), babies to age 4; fourth Thursdays from 10:30 to 11 a.m. \u2022 Toddler Yoga, ages 18 months to 5 years; first Thursdays from 11:15 a.m. to noon. Special June and July programs include:<\/b> \u2022 Mad Science, an interactive program for ages 4-12; June 13, 3 p.m. \u2022 Magic & Comedy, all ages; June 20, 3 p.m. \u2022 Literature Comes to Life, an interactive theater production, children of all ages; June 27, 3 p.m. \u2022 Animal Adventures, featuring six animals from around the world, ages 4-12; July 5, 10 a.m. \u2022 Craft Class, ages 6-18; July 11, 3 p.m.; signup required \u2022 Magic and Comedy with Craig Stone, all ages; July 18, 3 p.m. \u2022 Puppet and Marionette Performance, ages 4-12; July 25, 3 p.m. \u2022 Dream Big, Read, June 13-Aug. 15, ages 3-11, prizes for reading 10 books; sign up at sandiegolibrary.org or at the library. For more listings on summer activities and programs, call (858) 581-9934, or visit pblibraryfriends.org. The Pacific Beach\/Taylor Branch Library is located at 4275 Cass St.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
George was reading. Milo was licking. Both were participating in the Wagging Tales reading program at the Pacific Beach\/Taylor Branch Library. The dog-meets-kid hour is offered on the first Saturday of every month from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Though 12-year-old George Eger was fascinated by the book he was reading on the Titanic, Luna, a […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":259010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Canine confidence builders help anxious young readers in PB Library program","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}