While the start of the semester may be a dreaded time for some, just the thought of it has others wagging their tails.
The therapy dogs of MU Paws may be on a break from their regular duties this summer, but some of them are still spending time on a campus that their owners say they can’t wait to see filled with students once again.
“We actually had to go in the residence halls for something, and she was looking around like she missed the students, and she knew they weren’t there,” said Mary Thompson, the handler of Chloe, the 13-year-old dachshund who comforts the residents of Freshman North when school is in session.
With Thompson working in the Center for Student Success year-round, Chloe has spent her summer break only slightly less busy than normal; every Tuesday through Thursday, she accompanies her owner to work, cuddling up in a small bed beside her desk, with “Paw-ffice Hours” from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in East Hall 229.
Mistie Bibbee, the director of Housing and Residence Life, said the rest of the dogs – including her own – are enjoying a well-deserved break until Week of Welcome.
As the handler of Luna and the owner of potential-future-therapy dog Sunny, Bibbee said, “She likes to come to campus, and she likes to do the appointments, but it is very tiring for the dogs. She’ll go home today, and the puppy will be like, ‘Let’s go,’ and she’s going to be like, ‘I’m so tired.’ And you’re trying to do this five days a week.”
With fewer people on campus during the summer, Bibbee said the dogs only come to campus when they are requested for events from the beginning of May to the middle of August.
To determine who’s leashing-up and heading to campus, Bibbee said there are several factors that go into the volunteer-run program made up of both faculty-member and community-member handlers.
“They’ll look at the event to determine if they think their dog is the right fit for the event because each of the dogs have a different personality,” she said. “And then if they feel like their dogs are the right fit, then they’ll also look at the date and time of the event.”
“We work our best to try to have a team available for every event we get a request for,” she added.
Although the days can be tiring, Bibbee said Luna, like Chloe, loves to be on campus.
“Each time that I’ve brought her back to campus this summer, she’s just been excited to come back and see people and just get the pets. She also likes to chase the squirrels,” she said.
For Chloe, the work doesn’t always end once the clock hits 4:30 p.m. After hours, Thompson described her as a farm dog who stays on “rodent patrol,” not letting her age slow her down.
Thompson said Chloe’s summer evenings are also spent relaxing, enjoying the warm weather, having treats and playing with the three other dogs and one cat in their family.
Although no vacations are currently planned, Bibbee said Luna is perfectly content spending her summer running around her grandpa’s large, fenced-in yard and wrestling with her five-and-a-half-month-old sister, Sunny.
As the handlers and the dogs look toward the upcoming fall semester, Bibbee said she expects to have nine dogs in the MU Paws program, with about five regularly on the main campus.
Bibbee also said her goal is to continue on a similar schedule with Paws in the Halls, after receiving a strong response rate from students over the past year.
Baylee Parsons can be contacted at [email protected].
