{"id":48782,"date":"2021-03-16T09:05:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T13:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=48782"},"modified":"2021-04-01T10:50:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T14:50:40","slug":"k-9-visitors-make-paws-day-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/k-9-visitors-make-paws-day-a-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"K-9 visitors make ‘Paws Day’ a hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chewie<\/strong> lives with four humans in the Seidel family, as well as a cat, bearded dragon and a ball python. Last week, he made the trip to less exotic, but no less exciting environs to be a featured participant in Eastern Mennonite University’s “Paws Day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, Chewie enjoyed an hour of pats and smiles while helping to calm anxieties, lower blood pressure and offer furry distraction to EMU students during one of several spring semester “Pause Days.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea for the event hatched from the creatively fertile brain of Tyler Goss<\/strong>, assistant director of student programs<\/a>. EMU had hosted therapy dogs and foster kittens before, but this was the first opportunity that faculty, staff and students were invited to bring their canine companions to share the love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chewie’s owner is 12-year-old Phoenix<\/strong>, daughter of Professor Tim Seidel<\/strong>. “She sold her artwork to earn enough money to pay the adoption fee from Anicira,” Tim said, in response to an email from EMU News. “Chewie loves walks, people, and squirrels, and he recently learned to roll over.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to enjoy lots of pooch photos (yes, this is the longest photo essay in the history of EMU News photo essays, with thanks to our own Rachel Holderman). And we must also tell you that in the History of All Emails at EMU, queries to folks about their pooches, on a Friday afternoon, registered the Fastest-Ever Email Response Time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tucker<\/strong>, best buddy of head soccer coach Roger Mast<\/strong>, checks out some snacks while visiting with students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Roger says: “Tucker is 11 years old. My son, Grayson, needed a dog when he was in middle school and Tucker has been my responsibility ever since. Tucker\u2019s favorite activities are sitting on my lap and socializing with anyone willing to give him attention.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Student Emma Hochstetler<\/strong> brought two of her three dogs, Spencer<\/strong> (foreground) and Sophie<\/strong> (just to his left). “Spencer loved the attention of having everyone watch him and chase him, and Sophie loved being held and cuddled,” Emma said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spencer is an Eskidoodle (American Eskimo and poodle) rescue. Emma says he usually has long curly hair but just recently had a “shave.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s Sophie, a mini retriever mix, getting some love from EMU students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jenkins <\/strong>is one of two “professional” dogs to attend (well, OK, professionally trained…) He lives with Jon Styer<\/strong>, director of creative services at EMU, and Rhoda Miller<\/strong>, who works at The Collins Center. Jenkins is a trained facility dog and helps Rhoda with clients in her role as crisis response and forensic interview coordinator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jenkins is a pro at hanging out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thatcher <\/strong>is also a working dog. Shirley Ewald<\/strong>, administrative assistant for the School of Social Sciences and Professions, tells his story: Thatcher is 11 years old but we have only had him for a little over five years. We are his fourth owner and got him from the SPCA. He was well-trained when we got him and since he was so laidback and gentle with children and adults, my husband Phil decided he had potential to be a therapy dog. The two of them are certified by Therapy Dogs International (TDI). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Thatcher really enjoyed the day with all of the petting, brushing and general attention,” Shirley said. “He was exhausted and slept the whole way home.” In pre-pandemic times, Thatcher and Phil have visited EMU and Bridgewater College for pre-exam\/finals week de-stress activities; spent time with special needs students at an elementary summer school program; and walked the halls of Sentara RMH to visit with patients and hospital staff. Shirley, Phil and Thatcher were excited to visit EMU since it had been so long since such activities were part of their regular routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henri<\/strong>, named after the Dutch Catholic theologian and and writer Henri Nouwen, is an experienced visitor to campus. [Henri responds to the American or the European pronunciation of his name, we are told.] He is “a fixture” on the second floor of Weaver House in Amy Knorr<\/strong>\u2019s office at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Faculty, staff and students will often pop by for a little \u201cHenri love.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy says: Henri is especially aware of the emotions of others. If someone arrives who is upset, he will quietly sit under their chair in a show of support. Henri loves sticks, dancing with his momma, and pretty much every human and most dogs he meets.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henri will be joined by “a little sister, Annie, another Golden,” next month, so look for the duo around campus in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lily<\/strong>, an eight-year-old Lab\/border collie mix who lives with Christina Harman<\/strong>, an accounting analyst in the business office. “Lilly loves playing keep-away with sticks and frisbees, and herding her four pet chickens,” Christina says. “She has a great fondness for water, whether in streams, ponds, or puddles. Lily enjoys tormenting her two cat brothers and playing gently with her human cousins. Is that enough? I think she’s pretty great, so I could keep going.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Steve E Donuts<\/strong>, the golden retriever, arrived with Professor Tara Kishbaugh<\/strong>, dean of the College of School of Sciences, Engineering, Art and Nursing. Steve E [no period, please, after the initial] is known to “low-level whine” when he wants to be petted, so his Paws Day participation, with lots of humans around to indulge him, was a very big deal. Tara heard very little whining the entire time of his visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few more biographical notes in case you’re interested: Steve E was named by Fionn, Tara’s younger son. “Steve comes from Minecraft and donuts are Fionn’s favorite treat,” Tara says. “We never knew what the E stood for, but Fionn has insisted it is Steve E, not Stevie. At one point, he said E was for electric and that his full name was Steve E Red Wing Donuts because then it was all of his favorite things!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve E is the “omega animal” in the Kishbaugh house, and is kept in line (and groomed) by the cats Crivens and Kit Kat*. “He is good at being a chicken herder but panics when he gets too close,” Tara says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Though we love cats, these are somewhat tangential to this story so their names will not be bolded (no offense intended).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sopapilla<\/strong>, “Soso<\/strong>” for short, is a 1-plus-year-old beagle mix owned by alumna Alicia Horst<\/strong>. She was accompanied on her visit by Laura Lehman<\/strong>, director of digital marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hard to leave this photo out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patches<\/strong> came with nursing instructor Wendy Carr.<\/strong> She was adopted from Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA on Dec. 26, 2015. The 11-year-old loves any kind of food and has been survived binges of Ghirardelli chocolates and Halloween candy, both of which the Carr family now “guard carefully” after those scary events! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patches is a 65-pound lapdog who also likes treats like apples, pur\u00e9ed pumpkin, and green beans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Bailey<\/strong> is an 11-year old Labradoodle who still acts more like a puppy since she lives with her dog mom and our family,” says Campus Pastor Brian Martin Burkholder<\/strong>. “She loves ear rubs and tries to get one by rubbing against someone’s legs, which she did frequently with the visiting students.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey’s favorite activities in order of preference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Being with people<\/li>
  2. Walks through the neighborhood<\/li>
  3. Chasing tennis balls <\/li>
  4. Getting an ice cube.”<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Chewie lives with four humans in the Seidel family, as well as a cat, bearded dragon and a ball python. Last week, he made the trip to less exotic, but ... read more about K-9 visitors make ‘Paws Day’ a hit<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17774,5583,14715,17562,5642,5623,4513],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-48782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-admissions-digest","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-digest","category-faculty-and-staff","category-special-programs","category-student-life","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nK-9 visitors make 'Paws Day' a hit - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/k-9-visitors-make-paws-day-a-hit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"K-9 visitors make 'Paws Day' a hit - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chewie lives with four humans in the Seidel family, as well as a cat, bearded dragon and a ball python. 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