Ben Carey, Dr. Dell’s Research Assistant, Provides Great Advice to Join Our PACK

Ben Carey

Ben Carey is the Research Assistant for Dr. Colleen Dell and also the Program Coordinator of PAWS Your Stress Therapy Dog Program. The goal of PAWS Your Stress is to offer college students, as well as faculty, feelings of comfort, love and support through interaction with therapy dogs. The program has been a huge success and has grown substantially since its beginning.

Ben and I discussed Join Our PACK’s College Campus Therapy Dog Guide and he gave me some great advice regarding a campus therapy dog’s schedule and animal wellfare. Having a dog live or visit campus daily is a terrific idea, but I need to be mindful of the dog’s ability and need for rest. Ben had me read How Many Hours A Day Do Dogs Sleep which is helpful to consider when working with the colleges and establishing the campus therapy dog’s daily schedule, making sure to incorporate plenty of rest throughout the day.

The research work Ben is doing with Dr. Dell and her team is amazing! I will be touching base with Ben mid summer regarding current research work to see where I could possibly assist, or even shadow any of their studies, in order to learn more about the benefits of therapy dogs at college to help with Join Our PACK’s mission.