17th April 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Imagine stroking and hugging the tiny frame of a soft puppy, patting its glossy little coat beneath your hand and feeling its minuscule hot pants on your neck. Its good, right? Now, think back to that horrible stress of finals. The mounds of paper on your desk blocking out the light, your eyes roving over words in this book, that book, what does that word even mean? When did you last eat, wash, exercise? These memories, granted slightly exaggerated here, send shivers down my spine and I am glad I will never have to revisit those gloomy revision days.
Well, at Aberdeen University, students have been provided the opportunity to escape the horrible pressures of study with the introduction of a special ‘puppy room’. The puppy sessions are part of an exam welfare initiative set up by the university’s students’ association following a successful trial run with golden retrievers and labradors in February. Students were reported to have felt much more chilled out after sessions with the dogs and ready to work.
Although this might sound to some like a mad idea, your confusion will immediately be dispersed upon learning that the puppy programme is thought to have originated in America (home of bacon flavoured ice cream and radio for your cat or dog (however they did give us iPhones, iPods and iPads so let’s give them some credit here)). Some of the top universities in America and Canada including Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School have dogs on campus that students are free to borrow like books from the library.
Studies have shown that interaction with pets can reduce levels of cortisol which is a hormone associated with stress, while releasing endorphins. Last year, researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University carried out a study in which employees at a manufacturing company were allowed to bring their dogs to work every day for a week. The dogs appeared to improve morale in the workplace whether for the owners or others, however, I’m not sure I can see bankers and lawyers having their fluffy friends running riot in offices…