Therapy dog awarded doctorate degree for his 'services' in Virginia

A therapy dog has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Virginia Tech University, the US for serving its students and staff over the years. According to reports, Moose, a Labrador retriever has been serving the university’s COOK Counseling centre for last 6 years. As of now, the pooch has aided in more than 7,500 counselling sessions and over 500 outreach events.

Dr Moose Davis

Like all other universities in the US, the Virginia based university also conducted its graduation ceremony online. During the virtual commencement ceremony,  eight-year-old Moose was awarded an honorary doctorate in veterinary medicine. Later, the university released a statement online stating that it was recognising work of “Dr Moose Davis” who had spend "a career serving and supporting" the university community.

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Speaking to international media reporters, the dog’s owner Trent Davis said that the students at the university talk a lot about how Moose has “broken down the stigma” around mental health care on campus. He added that Veternatians had a high rate of suicide and the profession could be quite disturbing. However, Moose has helped the students and staff a lot, therefore. he deserves the recognition.

Meanwhile, Moose has his own medical problems. According to reports, he was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, for which he has undergone radiation, chemotherapy, and other therapies. Davis reportedly said that his treatment was ongoing but he remains his usual cheerful self. 

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On similar lines of using dogs for therapy, kids in the United States of America are now reading to dogs on zoom calls. A Washington based non-profit organisation People. Animals. Love (PAL) has switched in-person meetups between dogs and kids to a virtual version. According to reports, the initiative aims at adding hundreds of American kids who are now practising readings.

According to reports, PAL coordinates about 500 individually owned dogs and few cats to comfort people in need like those in prison, old age homes or libraries. However, as the threat of COVID-19 grew, the organisation has now started the young readers programme to keep the good work going. Speaking about the initiative, James Haworth, executive director of PAL said that kids were often frightened while reading in front of their teachers however dogs made up a comfortable audience.