Therapy pets put students at ease before tests

Test days can be stressful for any student. One faculty member at the UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division in Norfolk found a way to help alleviate some of the stress.

Jean Allen with Maggie and Timmy.

Faculty member Jean Allen occasionally brings her dogs to work. Last fall she visited students in class.

“The students were preparing to take a test on the concept of perfusion,” said Allen, a nursing instructor. “It’s a challenging concept and it falls at a very busy time in their semester. Needless to say the students were very stressed. I know how my pets help my stress and thought it would help the students.”

She introduced the students to Maggie, a 7-year-old, 144-pound pure bred Great Dane, and Timmy, an 8-year-old Border Collie/Labrador mix. Timmy is a rescue dog that was found under a tree by Allen’s mother-in-law when he was a puppy.

“Timmy is more timid and quiet but very gentle and calming,” she said. “I have had them since they were puppies.”

Both dogs are certified with Canine Good Citizenship and Pet Therapy Certified with Therapy Dog, Inc., as well as members of the local chapter of Paws Up, a local pet therapy group.

“The faculty just let me know when the students have a test or the students will let me know and ask me to bring one of the dogs,” Allen said. “The students have repeatedly told me they do much better on their tests when the dogs come to school.”

For quite a few of the students, Allen said the dogs provide “a little piece of home.”

Though she hasn’t done any formal research on how the dogs affect the students taking tests, Allen said when she’s brought the dogs to study sessions, the students are more engaged.

“There are lots of variables that cannot be controlled, but I have to believe the pets make a difference,” she said. “Students relax. Their stress level is down. When I bring the dogs in, the students perk up.”

In addition to spending time on campus, Allen also takes the dogs to the hospital and nursing home. She goes to the hospital in Norfolk two times a month for about three hours each. During the summer, she visits the nursing home with the dogs. To visit hospitals and the college, the dogs must be certified pet therapy dogs, a status they were both granted last summer.