All Dogs go to College

For just a little over a year now the nursing program at Auburn University has been offering an elective to students that is not found at any other university.  This elective is pet assisted therapy and Auburn's Dr. Pope is helping bring this elective to the students of Auburn and the surrounding community.  

With the help of Dr. Pope's two dogs, Miller and Choa, Auburn now offers a class that teaches students how animal assisted therapy helps people cope with illness.  Dr. Pope explains how the human-animal bond helps patients heal emotionally, socially, mentally and physically.  

Currently, the class only uses dogs in the curriculum, but Dr. Pope believes that other animals could be used as well, just as they are in hospitals and nursing homes.  

As part of the class students go on visits to local medical facilities such as nursing homes and mental health facilities. The class plans to grow in the next year and the teachers are working on expanding the places that they visit.  

Caitlin Miller, a senior in nursing at Auburn, explains that there isn't a prerequisite.  To enroll in the class students just need to be pre-nursing.  However, Dr. Pope is trying to get the class opened up to more majors, including education.  

This spring Dr. Pope and the nursing program plan to hold a conference to teach the community about the therapy program.  They want to continue expanding the program, and are even helping schools around the country learn about pet assisted therapy.  

Later this spring Dr. Pope will be traveling to the national convention for the Student Nurses Association in Philadelphia to get programs started in other nursing programs around the nation. Currently Auburn is the only nursing program to offer a class that is solely a pet assisted therapy class, but this should change after the spring.  

Caitlin says that she enjoyed taking the class in the fall and that she loved getting to play with the dogs for class credit.  She loved getting to know Miller and Choa in class and even more taking them to the nursing homes. 

Caitlin explains how patients light up when the dogs come and visit.  They tell stories about their pets when they were young, and it helps the nursing students connect to patients.  

Both Caitlin and Dr. Pope think this class is a critical part of helping patients, and both hope to see the program grow in the next few years.