Josh Billings once mused, “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.” Able to relieve stress and make almost anyone around them feel comfortable, it’s no wonder that canines are commonly referred to as “man’s best friend”. For years, Emory has tapped into this sentiment by bringing therapy dogs to campus during finals weeks to provide a healthy way for students to relieve stress. This fall, the University went one step further, adding its first-ever full-time therapy dog, Beowulf, to the team.
So what makes therapy dogs so great, eh? Well for starters, dogs are much more intelligent than many people realize. On average, they’re capable of understanding as many as 250 words/gestures, can count up to five, and are able to complete simple math equations.[1] In addition, they’re natural experts at understanding body language and facial expressions, making them quite adept when it comes to knowing how someone’s feeling. Further, with a sense of smell more than one million times more sensitive than ours, dogs can even detect whether you’re sick based on your breath.[2] One might even say that our furry companions know us better than we do. But beyond a dog’s innate attunement to human health and emotion, the way the human brain naturally reacts to the presence of dogs serves to further their therapeutic effectiveness.
As mentioned earlier, dogs generally help to increase happiness and reduce stress in humans. This is no coincidence. According to a study by the University of Missouri-Columbia, petting a dog causes the brain to release feel-good hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin along with the stress-relieving cortisol. Beyond being of obvious aid to the average college student, these characteristics are particularly beneficial for sufferers of depression and/or anxiety – issues that are becoming increasingly common in collegiate settings.[3] Especially considering the intense training therapy dogs undertake to hone their emotional intelligence and ensure a gentle, relaxed temperament, it’s easy to see how one might help people.
With over 150 hours of training already under her belt, Beowulf stands ready to serve the Emory community. Well beyond the traditional finals week Pet Therapy Study Breaks, she actually comes to campus every weekday in order to provide emotional support for students. Not only has Beowulf been trained to ensure she’s friendly towards everyone, she’d hypoallergenic too! So don’t be afraid to go up and say hi if you see her around.
Previous Emory pieces on Beowoof
Emory Wheel: Beowulf Becomes Emory’s First Full-Time Therapy Dog
Emory Report: A day in the life of Emory’s first full-time therapy dog
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/5994583/Dogs-as-intelligent-as-two-year-old-children.html
[2] https://www.doghealth.com/how-and-why/how-dogs-sense-emotions
[3] http://www.cvm.missouri.edu/vrs/ResearchTopics/Johnson%20-%20Minimizing%20Threats%20to%20Internal%20Validity%20in%20Social%20Science%20Research_files/v3_document.htm