The secret to acing midterms might not be in hours of frantic cramming but in petting a furry, friendly pup. Jessie Fromularo, the director of the Student Government Association’s second annual “Puppy Break,” said the event offers a chance for students to play with dogs between classes and studying.
“Petting dogs has actually been proven to improve test scores while also letting the students relax,” Fromularo said. “To be frank, dogs are just plain cute and for a few minutes out of a student’s walk to class, they can concentrate on something else other than assignments and deadlines.”
The dogs are part of Hand in Paw, a canine therapy program that seeks to improve the health and well-being of children and adults by serving those with physical, emotional, educational or psychological needs through interactions with professionally trained, animal-assisted therapy teams.
“Hand in Paw is honored to return to The University of Alabama to deliver our unique services during midterms,” Laura Cardwell, executive director of Hand in Paw, said. “Our first visit this past spring was met with much appreciation from students who benefited from taking a few minutes to relax, pet our friendly therapy animals and meet their caring handlers.”
Hand in Paw will bring an animal assistance therapy team to interact with students as a break from midterms. The therapy teams consist of a trained handler and a trained animal.
Brielle Appelbaum, an SGA member who helped start the event last spring, said the feedback from the Puppy Break in May was overwhelming and she couldn’t wait to work with Hand in Paw volunteers again.
“Their passion, service and kindness left an impression on our student body,” Appelbaum said.
Appelbaum said they are expecting around 350-500 students per hour and around 2,500 students throughout the week. The dogs taking part this week are two golden retrievers, a whippet, a rat terrier and two mixed breeds. The dogs are all personal pets of the handlers, who have undergone extensive training and evaluations to become nationally registered and insured to serve as therapy teams.
The event, which began on Monday, will take place again Wednesday and Friday from noon-2 p.m. at the Quad across from Lloyd Hall.
