Meet College Dogs

We are sure that as you read the title of this article, you have thought of a dog with glasses reading a book. You would love your furry one to be college, wouldn’t you? And who doesn’t?! Although this, as we think, is impossible, there are college dogs.

However, their work is different. Let’s tell you this and present the great benefits it brings to people.

College dogs, how and why?

Changes, while taking time, almost always result in good results, are difficult to accept and adjust to. It is not easy for college students to adapt to a new life. They arrive at a new place and with a completely different pace of study than they had before.

Many experience anxiety, stress, homesickness and sadness. The first year, without a doubt, is the worst. Who could help them work through these feelings and emotions? Our friends the dogs!

The interaction between dogs and students is at its height in many countries around the world. Projects that encourage it already exist in the United States, Colombia and other countries, having obtained excellent results.

The first study carried out to implement this method was with 86 students. They were able to have direct contact with the dogs. After 8 weeks, her homesickness and stress levels were greatly reduced.

It is not the first time that dogs have been used for this purpose, as several experiments have been carried out. Even in offices and work stations, thus proving the usefulness of these animals to relieve stress and other emotions.

The good results that university dogs brought opened space for other dogs to start living in universities. The purpose is to make first-year university students adapt more easily to their new life.

How dogs manage to reduce stress

The simple act of stroking a pet creates a special connection that brings us peace of mind. Remember when we talked about dogs used in airports? Passengers who were nervous before boarding a plane petted the furry ones and played with them. So the nervousness disappeared.

However, this is not obtainable with any type of dog. While it’s true that having a furry one is beneficial for health, and that it helps us to calm down and calm feelings of loneliness, for greater benefits, more is needed.

It has to be a polite dog. Usually, they are Labradors and German Shepherds, known worldwide for their easiness to obey and be trained. However, in the United States for example, they use pit bulls, as they are certain that there are no aggressive dogs, but poorly trained, by owners who do not interact well with them.

how they work

Obviously, a lot is taken into account of the dog, its feelings, emotions and, of course, its health. Therefore, the dog is neither mistreated nor enslaved in its work. A dog, no matter how well-educated, cannot have a four-hour day trying to do some work.

Therefore, these animals work in 15-minute shifts with another 15 minutes of rest, and so on. Typically, three dogs are used for each session, one in the morning and one in the afternoon; this prolongs the animals’ resting time and allows them to work 15 minutes every half hour.

This is of paramount importance for the dog, as we must not forget that they also suffer from stress. Abusing too much of your time and effort could have consequences for the dog, and the program would not be as effective.

In Spain, studies were carried out in this same area at a university and they showed very good results. We hope this will form the basis for it to soon spread to every university in the world.

This was a facet of dogs that we didn’t know about, but that we love, since initiatives like this look after the health and well-being of dogs and humans, as it seems to be happening.