ATLANTA -- Just down the
hall from the reference desk at Emory University's law library in a room
housing antique legal texts is Stanley the golden retriever puppy, barking his
head off.
Stanley rolls around on the
floor and chews on a squeaky toy while zombie-like law students wander in, a
giant grin breaking out on their weary faces when they see the cuddly boy.
Puppy therapy – just in time for finals week.
From Kent State University
in Ohio to Macalester College in Minnesota, more and more pooches are around
campus during exams to help students relax and maybe even crack a smile or two.
"We had a student who
came in and a staff person commented they had never seen that student
smile," said Richelle Reid, a law librarian who started Emory's pet
therapy program this year after hearing about one at the University of
California, San Francisco. "It has had positive effects, helping them to
just have a moment to clear their minds and not have to think about studies,
not have to think about books."
Pups are in counseling
centers for students to visit regularly or faculty and staff bring their pets
to lift spirits.
Pet-friendly dorms also are
popping up where students can bring their dogs or cats from home.
Want to check out a pet?
It's possible at Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, which both have
resident therapy dogs in their libraries that can be borrowed through the card
catalog just like a book.
Some dogs, like Harvard
Medical School's resident shih tzu Cooper, hold regular office hours.
Researcher Loise Francisco-Anderson owns Cooper and said she got permission to
bring him to campus after her husband read that Yale Law School had a therapy
dog on campus named Monty.
Cooper, who sports a
crimson scarf with paw prints on it, is so popular that undergraduate students
have been petitioning for him to spend time on their side of campus. Many of
them take the shuttle across the river to the medical school just to visit the
pup on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
"You can release some
of the emotions to a pet that you can't to a human. A pet keeps it
confidential. You don't have to worry about someone else saying, `Oh, I think
she's having a nervous breakdown over the science exam,'" said Francisco-Anderson.
Most schools, like Emory,
partner with organizations that train companion dogs so that the canines get
their social training while students get stress relief. Others, like at
Harvard, have faculty members bring their dogs – which are certified to be
therapy pups – to campus certain hours during the week.
The service is almost
always free for students.
Research shows that
interaction with pets decreases the level of cortisol – or stress hormone – in
people and increases endorphins, known as the happiness hormone. Scant research
exists on the how pet programs on college campuses help students cope with
stress.
That's why Kathleen Adamle,
a nursing professor at Kent State, hopes to garner a grant so she can conduct
research as part of her "Dogs on Campus" program. Adamle launched the
program in 2006 with just her dog and has since added 11 other therapy canines
to the team that visits dorms regularly throughout the year.
The dogs belong to Adamle
or other community members and are certified therapy dogs.
She has plenty of anecdotal
evidence that her program works. As soon as there's a tragedy on campus – a
student dies in a car wreck, for example – dorms scramble to book the dog team
to help comfort upset students, she says.
"I don't care if it's
10 at night, we go to that dorm and sit on the floor. The kids are crying, and
they grab the dog and put their face in the fur and just let it go," said
Adamle.
Since 2006, Macalester
College in St. Paul, Minn., has asked faculty and alumni to bring their dogs to
campus during finals as part of the "Dog Day Afternoon" program. At
Kenyon College in Ohio, the counseling center and dorms offer puppy play dates
with Sunny the yellow lab and Sam the poodle-Chihuahua mix.
Last month, Indiana
University students romped around with dogs in the first ever
"Rent-a-Puppy" day. For $5, students could book time with one of 20
puppies from the local animal shelter – and could adopt them if they couldn't
bear to say goodbye.
First-year Emory law
student Anna Idelevich took a break from studying for exams at the library on a
recent afternoon to visit Stanley and Hooch, two golden retrievers training to
be companion dogs for disabled owners. The private university brought in the
dogs as part of a new program to help students cope with the stress of exams.
"I've literally been
here every day. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me," said
Idelevich, 22. "They couldn't have thought of a better way to relieve
stress. If they don't do it next year, I'll be upset."