The University of Saskatchewan’s PAWS Your Stress Therapy Dog program is usually about releasing stress by visiting and petting the dogs on campus but in this pandemic, the program is offering live and recorded online visits.

Sociology professor and USask Research Chair in One Health and Wellness, Dr. Colleen Dell, says the live events will be at least twice a week on Facebook where the dog and the handler will introduce themselves and then carry on an activity that is designed to highlight a mental health wellness tip.

The recorded programs are the handler reading to the dog from a children’s book. Dell says a lot of people are feeling isolated right now, so the hope is these virtual visits can bring some light to someone’s day. The Facebook events can be found here on the PAWS Your Stress page.