Finals week is universally stressful for most Colorado State University students. Lucky for us, CSU has many programs and events dedicated to relieving post-finals stress that we are all familiar with. 

Wednesday, May 3 and Thursday, May 5, Resources for Disabled Students (RDS) and RamEvents will bring the heavily-supported “De-Stress with Dogs” event to the Durrell Center and Lory Student Center for students and faculty alike to come blow off some steam.

“De-Stress with Dogs” is one of many dog-themed de-stressing programs that RamEvents helps coordinate. RamEvents collaborated with Human-Animal Bond in Colorado (HABIC), which provides service dogs for the event.

HABIC has been supporting the program by bringing furry friends to the Plaza for the past seven semesters. They help bring multitudes of service dogs to CSU’s campus, ranging from huge, fuzzy Saint Bernards to tiny, bug-eyed pugs. The type of dogs at the event depends on which dogs are currently in training to be service animals.

According to Olivia Benda, RamEvents programmer and RDS intern, dogs are very important to helping students calm down in times of stress.

“Dogs provide a unique, unconditional love and companionship to students going through a hard time,” Said Benda. “When everything feels overwhelming, there’s nothing like having a dog there to be a nonjudgemental companion.”

“De-Stress with Dogs” has been successful in the past. According to a survey sent out last semester about the event, the majority of students reported that De-Stress with Dogs “reduces stress, distracts from tests, reduces anxiety and reminds them of home.”

Kathleen Ivy, who coordinates this event every year, encourages students to come to “De-Stress with Dogs” to help unwind, but also encourages students to take care of stress in other healthy ways.

“My advice — eat healthy food, get regular sleep, give your work your best effort and then let it go,” Ivy said. “It’s easy to say but hard to do.”

“De-Stress with Dogs” will be at Durrell Wednesday, May 3 and Thursday, May 5 from 6-8 p.m. in the LSC. Students, faculty and anybody looking to de-stress is welcome to the free event.

Collegian Reporter Allec Brust can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @Brustyyy.