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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Miles Mihalick, of Canfield, read to Simba, a nine-year-old miniature golden doodle and certified therapy dog with Pet Partners, at the Canfield library’s Tales to Tails program on March 11, as Terri Wagner, Simba’s handler, listens to the story, too.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Sira, a three-and-a-half-year-old schnauzer and mutt mix and certified therapy dog with Pet Partners, listened to Emily Mihalick, of Canfield, read to her at the Canfield library’s Tales to Tails program on March 11, as Debora Macomber, Sira’s handler, listened in.
By ABBY SLANKER
The Canfield library hosted Tales to Tails, during which children in grades kindergarten and up had the opportunity to read to therapy dogs, on March 11.
Therapy dogs were provided by Pet Partners of Greater Youngstown, a local pet therapy group.
Sira, a 3.5 year-old schnauzer and mutt mix, is a certified therapy dog with Pet Partners. Debora Macomber is Sira’s human and handler.
“Sira is a certified therapy dog with Pet Partners and she loves it. We also work with Akron Children’s Hospital and Windsor House and several schools and nursing homes. The kids just love her. We go wherever we are needed. It is so heartwarming and satisfying. Having Sira visit makes all the difference and she brings a lot of joy to a lot of people,” Macomber said.
Simba, a 9-year-old miniature golden doodle is also a certified therapy dog with Pet Partners. Terri Wagner is Simba’s human and handler.
“We love coming to the library. It is one of our favorite places to visit. Simba loves the kids and the kids love Simba,” Wagner said.
Miles and Emily Mihalick, of Canfield, were the first ones to read to Sira and Simba.
“They love it. This is the third or fourth time we’ve come to the program and they look forward to it each month. There are different dogs each month and they can’t wait to see which dogs will be there,” said Lindsey Mihalick, Miles’ and Emily’s mom.
Romie Policy, youth services librarian, was the facilitator of the event.
“We hold Tales to Tails once a month, usually on the second Monday of the month. We have a really good turnout and the kids look forward to it. It really does help with their reading and encourages a love of reading. It is definitely one of our favorite programs,” Policy said.
Children can bring their own books to read to the therapy dogs, or choose one from the library.
“I pull books every month for the children to choose from if they want to. I will say I try to pick dog stories over cat stories, since they are reading to dogs,” Policy said.