Can a Human’s Best Friend Curb Anxiety?

letting service dogs and emotional support animals into tahoma may solve student anxiety

Jakey+and+Bizmark%2C+besides+being+giant+furry+teddy+bears%2C+provide+comfort+and+relief.

Jakey and Bizmark, besides being giant furry teddy bears, provide comfort and relief.

Emma Gerberding, Staff

Think about how you feel after you’ve spent time with a dog. You feel happy and calm, right? That’s because dogs produce a hormone called oxytocin, which reduces depression, stress, and anxiety, so people have started training dogs to be therapists.

Therapy dogs at school would help a lot. Studies have shown that there are many benefits to schools having therapy dogs, such as:

  • Increases in school attendance. Students would want to see their best friends as much as possible.
  • Decreases in self-loathing. Dogs love everyone the way they are.
  • Gains in confidence. Dogs don’t get upset when someone fails.
  • Higher grades and test scores, even with state testing. Dogs believe in everyone, making people feel positive.
  • Less stress and anxiety. Dogs don’t have a “suck it up” attitude.

Schools typically don’t allow therapy dogs because the staff believes the dogs would be unsanitary or aggressive, and because of allergies, but therapy dogs are bathed regularly and they are individually picked from a litter based on their demeanor. Then they go through years of strict training on how and how not to behave when working. There are also hypoallergenic dogs, such as Goldendoodles and Portuguese Water Dogs, for those who have allergies.

Now for an example of how dogs would help in school. In November I had to take a reading test and a math test to qualify for a certain college. I passed the reading test on my first try with the highest score the employees had seen so far, but I failed the math test. I had to go back in two weeks to retake it. When I arrived to retry the test, there was a dog, a Goldendoodle named Luna, and I played around with her for a bit before the retry. This time I was more relaxed. When I finished, I was told I had passed this time. I passed because a dog was there to help me relax.

If dogs can help me with stress and anxiety, surely they can help others.