Pet therapy aims to relieve stress during finals

Animal lovers feeling the stress of finals will have the opportunity Sunday to relieve anxiety by playing with dogs.\nAbout eight dogs will play in the Briscoe Quad activity room from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Two Yorkshire terriers, a Scottish terrier, a flat-coated retriever mix and several huskies are expected to be available for any student who is willing to receive a slobbery kiss during the Furry Finals Fix.\nThe event is sponsored by Revitalizing Animal Well-Being, a program that began only a year and a half ago. Kara Kendall, the community outreach coordinator for the group, created the idea for the “Furry Finals Fix” near the end of last semester.\n“Having pets growing up, I really missed them at college,” Kendall said. “I wanted to do this because I think a lot of students can benefit from interacting with animals. I thought it would be a lot of fun for students, but also for the animals and their owners.”\nKendall said a number of recent studies have shown that animals help relieve stress by lowering blood pressure and heart rate. Programs have been done where children who have trouble learning to read can read to a dog. Children have an easier time reading to a dog than a person because they don’t feel like they are being judged, she said.\nDespite it being a fairly new program, officers of revitalizing have recruited more than 100 members.\n“RAW is an organization that is devoted to give animal advocacy a positive spin,” said Courtney Wennerstrom, co-president and co-founder of the group. “We are very inclusive in our aims. There wasn’t a single animal advocacy group when we started this. We’re not about picketing, it doesn’t work anymore.”\nOne of the group’s latest events, the Dirty Dirty Dog Wash-Off, took place over the summer. Group members washed about 50 dogs and raised $200 for local animal shelters.\nThe group plans to hold their first annual kissing marathon event titled Sealed with a Kiss in February where they plan to raise money to help prevent seal slaughter in Canada, Wennerstrom said.\n“Part of our larger projects are to show how humans and animals are intertwined,” Wennerstrom said. “Our connection with animals is really vital. They have a great impression on our psyches.”\nAlthough Kendall urges students and faculty members to bring their own pets to the Furry Finals Fix, pet owners must e-mail Kendall at klkendal@indiana.edu before the event.\n“The animals that are coming to the event enjoy people and they enjoy other animals,” Kendall said. “The dogs at last year’s event ate up all the attention. I think they’ll do it again this year.”