Algonquin students got to meet the friendly faces of St. John therapy dogs today in the Student Commons.
The Paws 4 Stress program is a separate, organized group from Algonquin’s new therapy dog committee. The dogs are part of the St. John Ambulance therapy dogs which have been making appearances at the college for several years. Though they have helped create some of the guidelines in which the new committee follows.
St. John’s therapy dog information website highlights the points of importance with dog therapy. They offer interaction with the dogs and volunteers as well as the opportunity to touch, pet and cuddle the dog along with receive unconditional love from the animals. This type of therapy has been found to, as sited by the hospital website, relief stress being a comfort and having a calming effect, improving self-confidence and helping with social engagement.
Tony Hodgins with St. John’s mentioned that their involvement is particularly with Paws 4 Stress. They bring in their own dogs and handlers for the monthly meetings. The St. John’s service dogs are a free service constructed from dedicated volunteers. Though they accept donations if it is possible for people to give. These donations, Hodgins confirmed, go straight back into the program with further information on their own website.
So far the Paws 4 Stress program plans to meet once a month and offers a chance for students and staff to drop in and interact with the dogs. These dogs differ from the Therapy Dog Committee by staying in office and available for appointment. The Therapy Dog Committee plans to instead, wander around the campus with dogs on occasion for any students who may want to stop and interact. Though, it is important to keep in mind to tell the difference between these dogs and people’s private service dogs who should never be approached or touched.
Today’s meet was a quiet one, just the second one of this semester. Most people found out about the meet with the dogs through the posters that have been put up around the school. Groups of students who arrived got the chance to cycle in and out to meet the dogs who waited for attention between groupings of chairs.
Today’s visitors were Amber with David Seabright and Caileigh with Christine Phillips. Each have been a part of the program for several years now and recognize some returning faces of eager students.
Interested people can go through testing with St. John to see if they, along with their dogs are qualified to volunteer. Each dog has to meet requirements of certain behaviours with people. Skittish or not quite ready dogs may be sent away to try again at another time after some training. Dogs that express any form of aggression however, are immediately disqualified from joining.
The appearance of the dogs brought an overwhelming feeling of joy and excitement from several students who bunched around the two dogs. Many hands reached out to stroke fur, all kinds of people blending together for a common purpose. Many students expressed feeling stressed coming back to school but getting to see and interact with the dogs as well as their friendly human guides brought back that sense of happiness.
As Christine Phillips pointed out, dogs have a unique way of communication with anyone.