Berrie was lying quietly on the floor, calmly watching everyone move around the room. The six-year-old wasn’t fazed by the number of students coming over to give her attention.
“She’s extremely docile,” said Stuart Hendin, the golden retriever’s owner. “She’s always like this.”
Berrie was one of six therapy dogs from St. John Ambulance at the college on March 9, providing stress relief for students.
“We usually only have two dogs, and typically get about 75-100 students per hour,” said Dan Cuddy, the information and outreach liaison for the AC Hub.
“We’re assuming there will be more with six.”
A line of 20 people had already formed 20 minutes before the Paws for Stress event even started. Smiles appeared as the first group of students and staff was allowed into the room.
The dogs appeared eager to meet all the new people.
Four stayed in the room for the two hours while the other two took a walking tour of the school to reach those who couldn’t make it to the Student Commons.
Therapy pet programs have been reported to be comforting and calming, provide stress relief and improve social engagement.
Algonquin decided to start holding these sessions four years ago after hearing about other schools doing them.
For the past two academic years, the organizers have tried to arrange one per month.
“It’s great because I have a lot of stuff going on and it’s a lot of stress,” said first-year aviation maintenance student Chelsea Harris.
That’s what the Paws for Stress organizers are aiming to help with through the event.
“We know students love it during stressful periods like exams,” said Cuddy.
“This gives them the chance to de-stress.”
It’s not always straightforward to organize, however.
When the event was meant to be held on Feb. 10, the pets did not show up, leaving eager animal lovers disappointed. Joshua Brunet, the therapy dog placement coordinator of St. John Ambulance explained that there were some uncontrollable personal circumstances and miscommunications amongst the volunteers on that date.
“We have an online calendar now, so that this doesn’t happen again,” said Brunet.
“Before we relied on e-mail or phone calls so sometimes it was hard to get confirmation.”
In the two hours, about 200 people made their way through the room, playing with the dogs and speaking with the volunteers.
Most left with smiles on their faces.
“Who doesn’t want to see dogs?” asked Trevor Rowe, a first-year paramedic student, with a grin.