Therapy dogs visited the ACC library to offer stress relief to students — in exchange for petting, of course.

Thanks to librarian Lindsay Roberts and the help of volunteers from Littleton Adventist Hospital and Guide Dogs for the Blind, this is the third semester the dogs have been to ACC during midterms or finals.

Roberts coordinated this event after learning of other places that had great results with therapy dog programs.

“When you look into a dog’s face, cortisol levels decrease and stress levels decrease. We wanted students to have that going into midterms and finals.” said Roberts.

“Every student who has left here today had a smile on their face” she added, highlighting the success of the event.

Dogs and their owners welcomed all who came and the environment encouraged a sit-down-and-chat between the humans. There was much laughter and  many pet stories being tossed around, with plenty of furry kisses.

If you missed the dogs this time, don’t fret. The therapy dogs are scheduled to return during finals week for both the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters.

If you are interested in learning more about the effects of dogs on human stress levels, Peer-reviewed research can be found here through ACC’s library database.