Furry Friend Therapy

By: Arianna Vargas & Audrey Longan

Paws 4 Healing visited Redwood, last week on Thursday, January 18th, in the choir room. Pro Med Club has been organizing these visits since May, last year. At first it was just “During finals week, as a sort of crash course”, says Pro Med Club Adviser, Emily Flores. They continued to schedule these sessions monthly because it turned out be a huge hit. On average 120 students come per visit. Now these furry friends are here to visit with the students about once a month and all the days of Finals Week.

The dates coming up are: February 21st and March 21st. Although, they weren’t able to get any more monthly dates scheduled after March, the dogs will visit for the entire Finals Week in June. Each of these dogs have started therapy within the range of 2014-2018. Last week, two Schnauzers named Remidy and Willow visited Redwood for the therapy session. The others who come throughout the year are Scout, a Golden Retriever, a Great Dane named Lexi, Greyhound GloriaEstefan, and Sally and Nellie whose breeds were not confirmed. Then of course there is the all favorite, Maverick, the Great Finland.

A few of the dogs that were recently here for the first visit back from winter break were little Remidy and Willow. Vanessa, owner of willow, and Tana Bennet, owner of Remidy, had mentioned a few tidbits on their pets. Remidy and Willow are great breeds as family pets and get along well with many people. They are both short haired dogs so grooming them by your own hand is easy. Remidy loves to play and go on drives. Though Willow is a bit more relaxed and prefers cuddles. As far as behavior and how to raise a dog like them, it revolves around how you choose to care and set examples for their breed.

As many would assume, there was a good amount of students who went to the Paws-4-Healing because who wouldn’t want to go see some doggies? Some students agreed to sharing their take on the ‘Dog Therapy’ and this is what a few had to say: Diego Castro, ‘19, said “I’ve gone to see the dogs before. As far as this being a good opportunity or not, I think it is because it gives everyone in the school to take a small mental break, especially during finals. Out of the dogs I’ve seen recently, Willow was my favorite. She was a good pupper! Between Counseling or Therapy Dogs I prefer the dogs because it’s a bit more calming and easier to just not be so stressed. Though therapy in general, I feel it helps me understand myself as a person in whole.” Tobin Lewis, ‘22, said “Yes I’ve come to see the dogs before. I think having this chance to see the dogs is pretty neat because I never get the chance to interact with dogs. I don’t really have a favorite dog though, it’s a bit hard to choose. If I had to choose between Counseling and Therapy Dogs, I’d choose the dogs. I just can’t talk to people, so being with the dogs is easier. I think therapy in general like this relieves the stress that school gives us.”

Paws-4-Healing Therapy will have their next monthly visit on February 21st. Check the bulletin the day of for the location and go check it out!