Therapy dogs visit CMU students to help relieve stress
About a dozen dogs wagged their tails Tuesday night in Campbell Hall.
Some were golden retrievers, others pomeranians. They were all excited to play.
“I just love dogs, and it definitely cheers you up every time you see their faces,” said Livonia sophomore Erin Donahue.
The dogs were brought to the residence hall by Dog Tales as a way to relieve stress for students as exam week approaches.
Dog Tales is a literary group allowing students to read to dogs, which helps them overcome shyness with reading aloud.
Dog Tales Founder and Coordinator Betty Lewis said the group has come to campus for seven years.
She said Campbell and Larzelere Halls were the first to bring the dogs.
“One of our members read an article about dogs being brought in at the beginning of the year to help freshmen. We decided that doing it at the end of the semester around finals would be a more appropriate time,” she said.
Meet dogs, people
Roscommon sophomore Megan Hutek said she loves dogs.
“I have a dog at home I don’t get to see very often, so it was nice to be able to pet these dogs,” Hutek said. “It definitely helped me de-stress and it’s a nice way to meet people too.”
Lewis runs a dog training class to evaluate and certify therapy dogs.
This is how she meets many of the Dog Tales volunteers.
Nancy Jerry volunteers with her golden retriever, Charlie.
She met Lewis through the Therapy Dogs International class when she got Charlie certified.
“There are just so many statistics about dogs and stress relief. I’m a teacher and I bring Charlie into my class, and on those days, the students who usually misbehave get excited and behave better because they know he’ll be coming in,” Jerry said.
Lewis said petting a dog can lower your blood pressure by 50 percent.
“It stands to reason that this has to help. Most people have had, or want pets. This is a good distraction for students from all the exams coming up, or a good way to unwind after an exam,” she said.
Lisa Klager, resident adviser for Campbell and a West Bloomfield junior, organized the event.
Our community at Campbell Hall is very animal-friendly and we thought it would be beneficial to bring (the dogs) here so our residents could take an hour out of their day to de-stress,” she said.
