For college students, stress relief can take many forms online: shopping, ordering food, gaming with friends and meeting new romantic partners. And now they can add hanging out with therapy dogs to that list. Virtual canine comfort is emerging as a successful way for students to reduce their stress as they interact with therapy dog-handler teams.
Because they are nonjudgmental, engaging and welcoming, interacting with therapy dogs can be used as a complementary intervention that reduces student stress which may encourage students to seek more formal support services if needed. Once introduced on campus, the interest from students typically surpasses most programs’ abilities to meet the demand.
