Are You Stressed? Come Play With Puppies!

By Autumn McPherson

Photo by Autumn McPherson

Students surround therapy corgi to relax during midterms.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Student Success Center, located on the sixth floor of the Rasmuson Library, hosts a “Paws for Success” every other Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. The only day dogs will be visiting in March will be on March 19 to give company to students through therapy dogs. In April the event will be hosted every other week. There are no signups necessary to participate. The dogs are from Companions Inc. Fairbanks, whose mission is to provide community comfort, company, and care through human-animal bonds. The volunteers, who go through confidentiality training, bring their personal pets who were trained through the AKC Canine Good Citizen test. This test ensures the dogs have good manners in public spaces and engage with people in a calming manner. The therapy dogs vary during each event, with around twenty dogs with breeds ranging from huskies, golden retrievers, corgis, labs, and more. Many of these dogs are rescues. One of the volunteer’s dogs, Bugs, was in the Iditarod twice and in the Yukon Quest in 2014 with musher Dan Kaduce. Kaduce placed fourth in the 2022 Iditarod.