Bright Spot Therapy dogs were back to the University of Massachusetts campus on Wednesday afternoon to relieve midterm stress with the Paws Program.
Students huddled around dogs all over the Campus Center auditorium, petting and playing with them. One of these puppies was Bear, a Dutch Shepard mix adopted from Georgia who had been at UMass in the fall for the De-Stress Fest.
“He was excited to come back, I think he knew where we were going,” said Suzanne Shuttleworth. “He’s very patient and he just loves people, he’s very empathetic.”
Shuttleworth volunteered at an obedience training school before becoming involved with the Bright Spot Therapy Dogs, a company founded in 2004 with the goal of creating mutually beneficial bonding between humans and canines.
Dog owner Karen Mack and her dog Molly, a black goldendoodle, have been working with Bright Spot Therapy Dogs for over nine years. Mack believes that human and canine interaction is tremendously important as well as beneficial.
“I’ve seen it myself and I’ve always read research about it. It helps with depression, it helps with blood pressure, helps with loneliness. I think there’s something magical about it,” Mack said. As for Molly, Mack says that she thinks, “she doesn’t mind getting adored for two and a half hours.”
Molly loves interacting with humans of all ages ranging from preschool kids to the elderly in nursing homes. She said that the transformation that begins when dogs are brought into a room is indescribable especially in nursing homes.
“They would be sitting in their wheelchair looking down and we would walk in their room and they would just be so uplifted by it,” says Mack.
But the event is not only fun for owners and their dogs, it is a treat for many students and dog lovers.
“I went first semester with one of my friends and it was definitely a good way to destress and kind of take my mind off of things especially with midterms starting, so I wanted to come. And I miss my dog,” says freshman psychology major Caroline Birney.
Freshman animal science major Emma Stern came to the event after seeing an Instagram post about it and because she missed her dog back home. “I would not say no to more of these [events], I love them, I come all the time.”
The four-legged friends boosted morale to students and attendees. “Everyone in this room is smiling so you can tell that it brings a lot of joy to campus,” says Birney.
Maria Elena Little Endara can be reached at [email protected].
