Therapy dogs help SRJC students

At Petaluma’s Mahoney Library, Santa Rosa Junior College students study furiously for their finals. Just outside, nine cuddly Labrador retrievers wearing blue and maroon service jackets wag their tails and wait to change someone’s day from impossible to doable. That is the life of the therapy dog.

Kevin Daniels, a first-year SRJC student whose cultural anthropology final is fast approaching, found the therapy dogs a helpful stress alleviator.

“They haven’t made me forget I have a final coming up, and I know I have to study hard for it,” he said. “But the dogs definitely help me calm down.”

Lori Saunders, who for the last 10 years worked as a civilian contractor for the United States Navy, began training therapy dogs in 2014 through the Bergin University of Canine Studies. On April 28, the school showcased several potential graduate dogs in a stress relief session at Santa Rosa Junior College’s Petaluma campus.

“I’ve just had it with war zone stress,” Saunders said.

Founded by Dr. Bonita Bergin as the Bonnie Bergin Assistant Dog Institute in 1991, the Rohnert Park-based Bergin University of Canine Studies provides training for both dogs and students interested in pursuing careers in canine services.

Service and therapy dogs are a rising treatment for physically and mentally disabled people who have trouble making relationships or live isolated lives. Some counties even provide therapy dogs for witnesses during cross-examination, especially with children who feel too intimidated or scared to provide reliable testimony.

“No animal does more for us. None share a more intimate relationship with us nor can any claim more years of alliance with us than the dog - our partner, our friend, our helpmate,” Bergin wrote in a message on the university’s website.

Most potential service dogs at Bergin are born on campus in their breeding program. There are 48 dogs this semester. When they reach six weeks, they receive basic discipline. At six months, they enter specialized training for service and therapy. Most dogs graduate in two years.

“What we try to do is find a good match for the dog and the student,” said Laurel Scarioni, a professor at Bergin and a former animal control agent for the city of Petaluma. “If it isn’t a good match, then the dogs get reassigned next semester. Sometimes we see returning students beg us to either keep their dog or give it to someone else. We just want to make sure when they take the dogs home they make a good relationship with each other.”

Dogs who graduate from Bergin immediately enter the therapy dog workforce, providing companionship and mental relief for physically and mentally disabled veterans and citizens.

“Therapy dogs are proven to lower blood pressure and release oxytocin, a chemical in the brain believed to expedite wound healing,” said Evan Murphy, a student at Bergin pursuing his associates in canine studies. “Also, dogs have a primal relationship with early humans. They were one of the first animals we domesticated and dogs are culturally accepted as companions all over the world. It’s a natural bond.”

Dogs who complete their studies but don’t perform to Bergin’s standards of excellence for therapy are re-purposed in different fields, like scent identification.

Samantha Lance, outreach librarian for SRJC Petaluma’s Mahoney Library, started the relationship with SRJC and Bergin by inviting therapy dogs to campus for pre-finals stress relief.

“The date isn’t a coincidence,” she said. “About 250 students came the last semester. They’re stressed out and the dogs do an important service for them.”

Lance added that increasing popularity with the service dogs ensures the program will continue next semester.

Naomi Murphy, a psychology and human behavior student at SRJC’s Santa Rosa campus, commuted to Petaluma to see the dogs.

“I heard there were dogs here,” she said. “The psychology finals are going to be tough, but these dogs help calm me down.”

(Contact William Rohrs at william.rohrs@arguscourier.com.)