Therapy dogs are at Loyalist to lick the wintertime blues

By Tyler Renaud 

BELLEVILLE – Are you feeling down? Got the wintertime blues? Exam pressure getting to you? Why not brighten your day and wake up your smile with a visit to the therapy dogs that are at Loyalist College this week.

Sarah Michelle Ogden, the college’s mind and wellness practitioner, was responsible for bringing the therapy dogs to Loyalist.

“There’s a lot of research showing that (therapy dogs) increase endorphins and decrease blood pressure,” Ogden said Wednesday. “Not every community has such a great program available, so why not take advantage? They are volunteer-based so there’s no cost to students or Loyalist.”

Dog-owner Julie Empey said she has seen the effect the dogs can have many times. Empey and her dog Charlie have been volunteering at Loyalist for two years, as well as other places where somebody could use a pick-me-up.

At one nursing home, she said, “there was this one lady; she was one hundred and something and she’s always grumpy. I walked in with (Charlie) and her whole mood changed – she was happy for the whole day.”

Empey and Charlie also work with young people: “Charlie helps children learn to read by allowing them to practise their reading to the dogs without the children feeling self-conscious,” she said.

QNet News asked Ogden why there are no therapy cats at Loyalist.

“I don’t know – that’s a great idea, though,” she said with a laugh.

But Olga Kallikargas,a  volunteer with the program, said any participating animal would “have to go through evaluation to be part of the therapy program.  There’s no special training – they just have to be a natural. They have to be good with other dogs and people.”

The therapy dogs return Friday. Come to the Student Success Hub anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to spend some time with them.