When these dogs listen, children find their voice

On a recent Tuesday afternoon at a library tucked beneath the wooded slopes of Achasan in Seoul, a 9-year-old girl sat turning the pages of a picture book with one hand as she read aloud, while gently stroking the soft golden fur of a labrador retriever with the other.

The retriever slowly settled onto the floor, closed its eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Book by book, the girl's voice, barely above a whisper when she began, grew steadily louder and more confident.

The two were partners in a chil ...