Julissa Alvarez

Jody R. Rosen

ENG 1121

6 April 2024

Pet owners have it nice. Like, imagine you’re coming back from a hard day at work, or school, or just coming back from running errands. You have so many things on you’re mind that you end up stressing yourself out, leading to a chain of events like anxiety, bad mood, low energy, etc. You finally make it home, you open the door, and waiting for you is your furry companion happy and ready to greet you. Suddenly, all those thoughts, stress, and anxiety disappear because you’re busy petting, kissing, hugging, and cuddling your beloved pet. Now imagine that but for college students. What if we had a program that allowed emotional support/therapy animals onto campus so students, staff, and professors could interact with these loving animals and destress themselves? Studies already show the positive impacts of having emotional support animals in college. So, allow me to let you in on these studies and explain why emotional support/therapy animals should be available on campus for us college students.

I got to meet Jenny, a golden labrador emotional support dog during my summer job at a precinct. Her handler allowed Jenny off the leash so he could go on stage and start explaining his and Jenny’s work. While he was talking, I noticed that Jenny would walk around and sit next to random people. At the time, I thought Jenny was acting like any regular dog that wanted attention. However, her handler would explain Jenny’s behavior right after. He said Jenny can sense who is having a less-than-pleasant time and will sit with the individual to comfort them. Ironically, after learning that information, I looked down next to me to find Jenny sitting and staring at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. I mean, her handler just told us what Jenny does and there she is, doing her job. Furthermore, I was going through a lot at that time, but having Jenny acknowledge me and comfort me really helped. Especially when she decided to lay her head on my lap. I’m pretty sure that instantly cured me. Jokes aside, I found it remarkable that animals can be so akin to our emotions and needs. They actually know what we need more than we do. This is one of the reasons why I believe that emotional support/therapy animals should be allowed or available on campus. If we had these intelligent animals on campus available to us, we’d be able to destress and conquer our struggles as college students by simply petting or playing with an emotional support/therapy animal.

I know a cute story won’t be enough to convince most, so let’s get to the facts. As I said before, there have already been studies on how emotional support/therapy animals can be beneficial to college students and our mental health. For starters, in the article “Benefits of Emotional Support Animals for College Students” by Sharlaye Dezeurn, they mention a study conducted between 2018-2019, where 40% of college students suffer from depression and 60% of students suffer from anxiety. This is why emotional support animals can be helpful towards our mental health because the same article states, “Emotional support animals are known to comfort their owners when the owner experiences anxiety attacks, panic attacks, signs of depression, signs of extreme sadness and even motions of social anxiety.” Similarly, in the article “Emotional Support Animals in College and University Housing” by Angela Curl, Barbra Brottman, and Miranda C. Kunkel, states, “Interacting with AAI dogs provided enjoyment (Pendry et al., 2019) and high stress relief (House et al., 2018), and participants were more willing to seek help from the counseling center (House et al., 2018) and reported decreased anxiety and loneliness after interacting with dogs (Stewart et al., 2014).” An AAI dog is an abbreviation for animal-assisted interventions. Back on topic, both of these articles mention the fact that these animals have been proven to be positively effective towards our mental health. Additionally, these emotional support/therapy animals can help with cognitive skills and even boost grades. If colleges allowed a program to make these animals available to their students, imagine the wonderful impact it would have on them. Students wouldn’t have to fully endure the stresses of being a college student and these animals can better not just their mental stability but also educational stability. Not only would this look good on the students, but the colleges as well.

Although there are many reasons why emotional support/ therapy animals should be allowed/available in college, there are also many reasons why they shouldn’t be. Firstly, trying to get a registered emotional support animal is a hassle. According to “Emotional Support Animals in College and University Housing” by Angela Curl, Barbra Brottman, and Miranda C. Kunkel, it states, “Because there are no governmental registration requirements for emotional support animals in the United States, it is difficult to measure the prevalence of ESAs.” Compared to service animals, trained animals that do work or perform tasks for the disabled, an emotional support/ therapy animal doesn’t necessarily have to be trained which is why most of them can’t be in public spaces like service animals can. Nonetheless, this issue can be fixed if the college allowed students to bring their own emotional support animal or if there was a program that was agreed upon with the college that allowed students to interact with emotional support/therapy animals provided by the college.  Second, people can be afraid or allergic to these animals. 20% of the world’s population is allergic to cats and/or dogs. However, this can easily be avoided. If this were to become an official program, there could be paperwork done to register for time with the emotional support/ therapy animal and have these animals in a designated area to lessen the spread of allergies and keep people who are afraid of animals away from those areas.

In conclusion, emotional support/ therapy animals can truly benefit us college students in ways some people might not find relevant or important enough. I’m here to address them that it is, in fact, important if these animals are proven to help students mentally. All the facts are there, as shown in Sharlaye Dezeurn’s article and Angela Curl, Barbra Brottman, and Miranda C. Kunkel’s article. It is possible to have these animals co-exist with us on campus. If there can be a program in colleges that allows students to interact with these animals they can have the same experience that I did. A destressing bonding moment with these intelligent animals that understand your needs and will comfort you until you are satisfied. That kind of experience is special and should be shared and appreciated by others.

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