More than two dozen children stopped by the Great Bend Public Library on Thursday to wish Luna the Reading Dog a happy birthday. According to her trainer, Glenn Schraeder, his Burmese mountain dog is 9 years old.

Luna doesn’t actually read; she is trained to listen as young children read aloud to her. After meeting the training requirements, Luna earned her “Read with Me” certification through the Pet Partners program, which registers therapy dogs and other therapy animals. The program is designed to promote literacy education. Sponsors have reported that children who read with animals tend to have greater improvements in reading competence, motivation, and self-confidence than those who do not. In addition, reading with animals helps improve voluntary reading participation as children look forward to spending time with the therapy animal.

“We’ve been doing the reading program at the library since 2018,” Schraeder said. Luna also visits schools and other libraries. Some months, they see as many as 800 people.

For her birthday bash, Luna wore a white bandanna with green shamrocks. Children wore party hats and enjoyed cake while they waited for a turn reading to her. Luna had a bone-shaped doggie cake and even received a few gifts from her fans.

Great Bend Public Library hosts Read to Luna at 4 p.m. on Thursdays.