December 02, 2015
Drexel University /Instagram
Drexel students play with a dog during the university's annual Puppy Pawlooza before finals week.
Drexel students got a quick break before the dog days of finals (bad pun intended) Tuesday afternoon.
The university held its annual Puppy Pawlooza at Gerri C. LeBow Hall, bringing in puppies for students to play with to relieve stress before the start of their exams.
Finals can be ruff! Take a study break and join us for Puppy Pawlooza in Gerri C. LeBow Hall until 2:30 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Mu5QSdFw3a
— Drexel University (@DrexelUniv) December 2, 2015
According to NBC Philadelphia, Drexel says pets can help relieve stress and the university had students who participated take a stress test beforehand to help monitor the event's effectiveness.
A 2012 Associated Press report about the prevelance of similar events held at colleges across the country cited Loise Francisco, a Harvard researcher, who explained why pets can help ease a student's anxiety:
"You can release some of the emotions to a pet that you can't to a human. A pet keeps it confidential. You don't have to worry about someone else saying, `Oh, I think she's having a nervous breakdown over the science exam,'" said Francisco-Anderson.
In addtion to the annual Puppy Pawlooza, Drexel hosts year-round dog therapy at the university's recreation center.
The service was launched in 2013, with Drexel becoming the first college in the country to do so.
