First-year students who spend time with therapy dogs report decreased amounts of homesickness and stress, according to studies from the University of British Columbia (UBC).
UBC’s Okanagan campus is launching another year of its “B.A.R.K program,” short for “Building Academic Retention through K-9s.”
The program pairs dogs with groups of students, who each have 45-minute sessions with the dogs once a week for eight weeks. Since B.A.R.K’s inception in 2012, the program has studied the effects of dog therapy on a different issue each year, including homesickness and stress.
Last year, students rated their level of stress at the beginning of the program, and reported lower levels of stress by the end.
According to professor John Binfet, the program’s founder, the effects of dogs on student loneliness will be studied this year.
“Students learn better when they have lower levels of stress,” Binfet said. “By having therapy dogs on campus, we know scientifically that they create conditions for optimal learning.”
In past sessions, students were measured on their levels of stress and sense of homesickness during the course of the program. The positive results were overwhelming, according to Binfet. By the end of the program, students felt better about themselves and their relation to campus, he said.
“We document every student who visits with the dogs, and so far over 34 per cent of the student body at [UBC] has made use of our programs,” he said.
Binfet said the dogs act as “social catalysts,” giving students something to talk about with other students and allowing friendships to form.
“We’re sensitive to the dogs’ well-being,” he said. “The dogs are assessed before entering the program, to make sure that they’re comfortable.”
B.A.R.K also hosts drop-in sessions, which allow students, faculty, and staff from the broader university community to visit the dogs on campus.
At Carleton University, a therapy dog visits the counselling office in residence twice a week from September to December. Students can spend time with a dog named Blue on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1 to 2 p.m. at 131 Renfrew House, according to Carleton’s Health and Counselling Services.
Although it’s still early in the semester, Blue is already making his mark on students. Caitlyn Rogozynski, a first-year journalism student at Carleton, said that she had a positive experience visiting the dog.
“It absolutely made me feel less homesick,” Rogozynski said. “One of the things I miss most about home is my dog, so seeing Blue really helped me feel better about that.”
