CAS CONNECT 2017

Chunk 21 may be all the student needs to change their attitude,” Baldwin says. “I am often reminded that it’s the little things in our daily lives that add up to the big things, and I think P3 is just that.” Baldwin also shares her dog, Roscoe, with her department’s Animal Assisted Intervention program. This allows Roscoe to interact with children with autism and clients who stutter. They have found a “marked difference” when dogs like Roscoe participate in the sessions. Holley Hansen and Stephen Nemeth (both in political science) have noticed how their dog, Cooper, has the power to bring people together. “During visits, you will often see a circle of students who have never met each other, all from different backgrounds, social groups and majors, talk- ing about themselves or their dogs back home,” Hansen says. “These may be tempo- rary or little connections, but they can help students feel a lot more at home.” DOGS AT WORK While the primary bene- factors of the P3 dogs are stressed-out students, faculty and staff, the owners enjoy the perk of taking their dogs to work. Lewis says her favor- ite days are when she brings her lab mix, Logan, to Life Sciences East. “You not only get to build a better relationship with your dog and bring him/her to comfort you and others on campus, you get an opportu- nity to connect with so many different people and students,” she says. “It is incredible to see the stress just melt off people while they are petting your dog.” Baldwin concurs. She felt guilty leaving Roscoe at home every day, and the more she learned about the program, the more she realized how much it helped the dog. “It is a symbiotic relation- ship,” she explains. “Roscoe is always excited when we put the vest on and we go to campus.” Roscoe is not the only P3 dog to get excited. Some may even get too excited. Hansen and Nemeth discovered Cooper could strain his tail from wagging too much. In fact, he did so twice. “He really loves his job,” Hansen says. The owners love the job, too. While the entire P3 group feels like a family, in some cases it is literally true, for many campus couples share P3 duties (and rewards). Danilowicz and his wife Kay (Communications Sciences and Disorders) share Sandy D., for instance. Hansen and Nemeth handle Cooper. Tyrell Conway, microbiology and molecular genetics, and his wife, Sharri, bring Chunk. Darwin and Huxley belong to Keith Garbutt, dean of The Honors College and professor of plant biology, and his wife, Christine Garbutt. Toby is shared by Michael, geology, and Susan Grammer, OSU Fire Protection publications. Rebecca Sheehan, geography, adds Goose as a P3 pet in the College of Arts and Sciences. Danilowicz could not be happier so many dogs have joined Sandy D. in the program. “Since this is purely a volun- teer program, it is wonderful to see so many of our faculty and staff from the college supporting our campus this way.” The populari ty of the program has grown by t radi t ional word-of-mouth as wel l as hand-to -fur.