Rice students will have the opportunity to mingle, de-stress and share hugs with dogs of various breeds during finals week at Fondren Library.
The library has asked Houston pet therapy organization Faithful Paws to bring its friendly canines to the first floor of Fondren from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 6, 2 to 9 p.m. Dec. 7, 2 to 6 p.m. Dec. 8 and 5 to 10 p.m. Dec. 10.
“Therapy dogs have been in use at certain university libraries for a number of years, and we felt it was time to offer this chance to our Rice students,” said Kerry Keck, assistant university librarian for research services. “We hope taking a break with a friendly dog will provide a positive outlet during the stress of finals. If our student feedback is positive, we’ll plan to bring the pups back next year.”
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We are definitely trying to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone is comfortable interacting with dogs, or simply being around them. Students should not feel discouraged from visiting the library during the scheduled hours for this activity. We are confining the activity to one contained area on the first floor and the dogs will enter the building only from the east entrance. The dogs are well trained for this type of interaction and library staff will also be on hand at all times to monitor the activity.
You’d be surprised how many people who are scared of dogs respond to our dogs. They had a bad experience and are now afraid. This therapy can help over come those fears. We can help them learn how to approach friendly dogs and hopefully they can have a good experience.
Two of my friends have very intense dog phobias and became very concerned with this initiative when they heard of it. In fact, they will be actively avoiding Fondren during finals when the dogs will be here. Although I’m a dog lover, I empathize with their concern and was hoping someone from Fondren would be able to comment on this.
We are definitely trying to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone is comfortable interacting with dogs, or simply being around them. Students should not feel discouraged from visiting the library during the scheduled hours for this activity. We are confining the activity to one contained area on the first floor and the dogs will enter the building only from the east entrance. The dogs are well trained for this type of interaction and library staff will also be on hand at all times to monitor the activity.
Great idea- has had a positive response at other universities! As a research institute, maybe you should start the balling rolling on seeing if it does really help? Get some students involved in creating an experiment to measure it.
If they had had that available when I was in school, my grades would have been even worse. Half my time would have been spent in the Pub and the other half playing with puppies.