By DAVID CHAPEK/ Staff Writer
About two dozen students had crowded into the second floor of the Muntz Library. The normally silent room was quietly buzzing as both students and staff filtered through the distinct groups that had formed. It seemed that everyone had forgotten the looming threat of finals, and instead were able to be their normal, relaxed selves.
Last Tuesday morning, four Therapet owners brought their dogs to UT Tyler for the “Paws to De-Stress” event.
“The stress isn’t hitting,” one student put in, laughing. They added, “It’s going to start coming on Friday.”
“Still got one more week until finals start,” another student said.
Therapet, a Tyler-based animal assistance therapy organization, has over 70 animals whose owners take them to schools, hospitals, rehab facilities and more. According to the Therapet website, the owners have a goal of bringing “health, happiness and healing” to these places. In short, they go to “any place that somebody needs a little fur love,” according to Dennis Watts, one of the Therapet owners who came to the event.
Watts said that taking Bella, his four-year-old Goldendoodle, to Boshears, a Tyler school for special needs students, is “one of the most rewarding” places to go.
“Some of them can’t even move,” Watts told the small group of students around him and Bella. “When the pets come in, you just see them light up.”
The path to becoming a Therapet isn’t easy, though.
Carrie Gill, another Therapet owner, said that the process can take around six months, including 24 weeks of required training just to be qualified to start Therapet school. And at the end of all that training, Therapets such as her own Annie must undergo a temperament test.
Only once they pass the temperament test can they become certified Therapets. Despite the long process, to Gill and Watts, the time was worth it.
Watts told his small audience a story about one stroke patient he and Bella had visited.
“She started moving her hand a little bit, and she kinda got a little smile, and she said, ‘Pretty baby,’” Watts said, beginning to tear up. “And the therapist told me later that was the first time that woman had spoken in three months.”
Gill also agreed that the long process was worth it.
“My favorite part is y’all,” she told the students.
From all appearances, the event was a success — not a single person in the room seemed stressed.
