“Bow wow!”

Therapy dogs took over McLean last week and students went wild fawning over the lovable animals. The dogs come to McLean at the end of each quarter to promote good mental health in McLean students. They spend their time in the courtyard by the library being pet and held by students. Tracy Lee explained how the program was started in general and at McLean.

“A group of us dog owners were taking a bunch of training classes and our dogs took the therapy dog test and we started working at the “Fairfax Pets-on-wheels” which goes to nursing homes but he [her dog, Totoro] just doesn’t do well in nursing homes so we found out through trial and error that high school and college kids are a better fit for him because of his size,” Lee said.

In addition to Totoro, a great Pyrenees and golden retriever named Lexie were at McLean. The student body came in droves to see each dog. Each dog would lay or sit calmly as students swarmed around them desperate to pet their stress away. The program seemed to be effective to sophomore Alina Sigdel.

“This totally helps the mental health of McLean students. Actually earlier today I was feeling overwhelmed with upcoming tests today and tomorrow. I have more but coming out here and petting the dogs made me de-stress,” Sigdel said.