ohmidog!

We’re all getting a little tired of the “win-win.” For one thing, it’s a cliche. For another, with so many “win-wins” being pointed out these days, two wins just no longer seem enough.

So how about a win-win-win-win?

Last Friday, the PreVet Association at Illinois State University brought a dozen dogs to campus, accomplishing, by my count, four wins:

First, students, stressed out by exams, had an additional –  and far healthier than some other alternatives – way to unwind.

Second — with students paying $1 to walk, pet and play with rescue dogs — the event raised a little money for Wish Bone Canine Rescue, which brought the dogs to school.

Third, dogs in need of homes got a chance to show off, increasing the chances of getting adopted or fostered.

And fourth, the dogs got gobs of attention and a chance to socialize during  what organizers call “Dog Days on the Quad.”

“This is a good chance for stress relief,” said Erin Mortimer, ISU Student PreVet Association vice president. “A lot of students miss their dogs from home and enjoy taking these dogs for a walk.”

The dogs benefit at least as much as the young humans do. On top of getting some attention and learning socialization skills, it’s an opportunity for them to find a future forever home, or a temporary foster one.

“We try to let students know that they are also able to foster for Wish Bone,” said Kim Bill, volunteer coordinator for Wish Bone. “It is a great way for them to have a dog on their own schedule. On top of that, everything is provided by Wish Bone — food, toys, medical care, and support.”

You can see a slideshow of it all at Stateside, the school’s alumni magazine.

Half the proceeds from the event went to Wish Bone for food, shelter, and medical treatment. The other half went to the ISU Student PreVet Association to allow students to participate in symposiums and special lectures.

Adding up, actually, to five wins.

(Photo: Stateside magazine, Illinois State University)

We told you so, way back in November, when we carried a report about a dog crawling out alive from the ashes of a house fire in Tennessee.

‘Tis the season for doggie Christmas miracles.

You don’t have to look very far, this time of year, to find one.

The first of two we bring you today comes from North Carolina, where a Jack Russell terrier named Rowdy mysteriously disappeared while chasing squirrels on the Davidson College campus.

Mary Kay Taylor, his owner, often takes him there, and lets him frolic off leash for a few minutes.

“I walk him usually well into campus and let him off the leash for maybe a five-minute run around. Looking for squirrels is his favorite thing in the whole wide world to do,” she told WCNC in Charlotte.

On the Sunday before Christmas, he ran out of her sight. She heard a yelp.

For the next two hours she searched, calling the 8-year-old dog’s name. After that, she posted fliers on campus light posts.

The next two days were lonely ones, she said: “When you come home and he’s not there to greet you and all that kind of stuff, it’s sad.”

Early Christmas morning, her phone rang.

Rowdy had been found in a 12-foot pit in the well of a window outside the campus library.

A man walking his dog heard Rowdy crying and called the campus police. With help from the fire department, Rowdy was hoisted out and, within hours, was back home snuggling by the fireplace with his owner.

“It’s a miracle,” said Taylor. “It’s a Christmas miracle and I feel so grateful.”

Lees-McRae College, located in the mountains of North Carolina, has designated its first pet-friendly dormitory, allowing students who live there to bring along their dogs, cats, birds, fish, ferrets, and hamsters.

With the opening of the Spring 2011 semester, Bentley Residence Hall went co-species. 

“I am so excited that Lees-McRae College has joined the ranks of pet friendly colleges and universities.  We love our pets and we recognize that students who are pet owners are generally responsible and caring individuals,” said Barry M. Buxton, president of the Presbyterian college. “We want to encourage pet adoption and awareness that all of God’s creatures are sacred.”

Students living in Bentley Hall are now allowed to bring their pets from home to school with them to live in their rooms. Under the new policy, qualifying students can have fish, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, birds, ferrets, cats and dogs under 40 pounds. (We’d argue dogs over 40 pounds are sacred, too.)

Previously, students were only allowed to have fish in residence hall rooms.

Under the new pet friendly policy, faculty and staff are also encouraged to bring their pets to campus.

“It is great to be able to have my two dogs for companionship while I am studying and doing homework in my room,” said student Lauren Lampley, owner of Shih Tzus Heidi and Buckley. “This responsibility also forces me to manage my time well enough to take care of them and make sure I make time to spend with them.”

The approved pets for the inaugural pet friendly program include a Boston Terrier, a small Labrador retriever, two Shih Tzus, a pomeranian/Chihuahua mix, a miniature dachshund, a Maine coon mix, a Siamese mix, a leopard gecko, a Dutch rabbit, two ferrets and two birds.

The new policy represents the latest in a trend toward colleges welcoming pets, noted Joshua Fried, director of Petside.com: “We know how much the companionship of a pet can benefit a college student, particularly in the form of stress-relief and as a remedy for homesickness.”

“Now I have two alarms,” one student joked. “When I ignore my alarm clock, my dog licks my face and my nose until I get up. She really cares about my education.”

Lees-McRae College, a four-year, co-educational liberal arts college, is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina in the town of Banner Elk.

(Photo courtesy of Lees-McCrae College)

At Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, faculty and staff bring their dogs to school every Tuesday during September, gather on a grassy field and allow students to have their homesickness washed away by spending an hour with the hounds.

The events are aimed at helping students overcome their homesickness, which often includes a longing for the family dog, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The “Dog Days” have been held on campus for five years.

They were started by former counseling director Kathy Bradley, now executive director of health and counseling at Gettysburg College. Bradley has started a similar program there. A few times a semester, Bucknell University in Lewisburg, which heard about Susquehanna’s program, brings trained therapy dogs – some owned by staff members – to campus to visit with students.

“The fact is that students miss their pets, sometimes more than they miss their families,” said Anna Beth Payne, associate dean of student life and director of Susquehanna’s counseling center.

Professors especially like the opportunity for the informal gatherings, saying they break the ice and can help make the campus, and the professors, seem less intimidating to students.

Nine dogs showed up on a recent Tuesday, a typical turnout, and dozens of students stopped to play with them, one of whom said she missed her dog, Babe, back home in Maine — at leas as much as she missed her mother.

“It’s a close tie between the dog and my mom,” she said.

(Philadelphia Inquirer photo by Robert Landry)

It has become something of a tradition on the University of Wisconsin campus — just when student stress is at its highest, final exam week, dogs show up to help them chill out.

The Pet Therapy study break on the Madison campus was held again yesterday, with staff from University Health Services bringing their dogs to the Library Mall so students can pet and play with them.

In addition to the dogs soothing frazzled nerves, counselors from the school offer advice on how to deal with finals week — including telling them that all-night cram sessions are not the way to go. A good night’s sleep will probably be more valuable.

Students at the campus in Madison can also get free one-on-one counseling, and for $40, massage therapy.

(Photo: A scene from last year’s break, The Capital Times)

The University of Washington — home, ironically enough, of the Huskies — has banned dogs from campus buildings.

The UW Board of Regents decided in a meeting last month that non-service animals will no longer be permitted inside buildings, according to The Daily, the student newspaper.

The changes also prohibit leaving animals unattended or tethered to campus property and allows them to be seized and impounded.

UW Police Department Assistant Chief Ray Wittmier said the new policy followed a dog bite incident in Parrington Hall.

Wittmier said the department would respond to complaints and ask pet owners to take their animals out of a building. Owners would be cited or banned from campus if they refuse.

“[Violators] will always get a warning first,” Wittmier said. “If somebody doesn’t have ties to campus, they could be banned. Someone on campus will be handled as an employment-type issue. Employment could be terminated. Other actions could affect students and their student status.”

No word on whether the changes apply to Dubs, the dog that serves as school mascot. Judging from his blog, he seems to be allowed indoors, or at least inside the football stadium and basketball arena.