Dogs help to rid NUS undergrads of stress
PUBLISHED ONNovember 20, 2014 9:19 AM
SINGAPORE - Dogs are man's best friends indeed. Not only are they good companions, but they also help to relieve stress.
Therapy Dogs Singapore (TDS), a non-profit organisation made up of volunteers who are dog owners, provides pet-assisted therapy.
According to The Straits Times, the organisation holds sessions at seven nursing homes, health institutions and special schools. They also do ad-hoc visits.
One example of an ad-hoc visit was to the National University of Singapore (NUS), where eight dogs, including toy poodles and golden retrievers, had the chance to play with 40 stressed undergraduates, The Straits Times reported.
The event, which was held during the exam period and for an hour, was a collaborative effort between the organisation and animal-welfare interest group NUS Peace.
In Nov 2013, 40 students also had the chance to play with 13 animals from TDS as part of an exam-stress relieve therapy session.
According to the NUS website, the project was started by Nixon Tan, a second year Science undergraduate who was thinking of a solution to relieve exam stress earlier in 2013.
He did more research on the therapy after reading more about such programmes in the US and UK universities.
stephluo@sph.com.sg