The Nor’wester Therapy Dogs visited the Bucks campus from Nov. 28 to Dec. 6, offered as a way for students to release stress before their upcoming finals.

Located just beyond the Gallagher room Bucks students were invited to sit down and pet dogs that were brought to the campus by Nor’wester Therapy Dogs, located in Richboro. Plenty of students stopped by to spend time with the dogs and take their minds off school for a brief and relieving period.

Wendi Glessner, one of the founders of Nor’wester Therapy Dogs and a dog breeder herself, joined the campus, bringing along a black Labrador named Journey. Wendi spoke about Journey who is 4 years old with six puppies saying, “We got Journey from Macedonia for breeding, she passed her tests and has become a great therapy dog.” Wendi has several therapy dogs that she brings to different places. The dogs work as a way of improving student’s motivation and achievement.

Wendi spoke on the founding of Nor’wester and the relationship the program has maintained with Bucks and other educational places. “Nor’wester was founded in 2007 and has been at Bucks for a few years now for finals and freshmen that are new to the campus,” said Glessner. “The program is strictly educational, and the dogs are taken to schools and libraries as ways to motivate students to learn and read” Glessner added.

To become a therapy dog, the dogs are brought in by volunteers, “The dogs have to pass two different tests to become legit therapy dogs” Glessner said. “The volunteers of the program meet once a week with their dogs,” Wendi said. Members of the group send out emails and texts about upcoming events where the dogs can be taken.

A volunteer of the group, Steve, was also present on campus, bringing his yellow lab named Vern. Steve has been involved with Nor’wester for six months now and spoke on the process that Vern went through to become a therapy dog. “Vern has been taking lessons for six years now and it really shows, the training has helped a lot,” Steve said.

Steve spoke of one of the ways Vern was tested saying, “Vern would start by going to different Home Depot’s and standing by the exit to see how well he was able to behave.” Now that Vern is trained, he has recently been visiting Klinger Middle School on Fridays to see special needs children. “The kids love him,” said Steve, adding that for Halloween Vern dressed up as a lion, fitting very well with his yellow fur. Steve described Vern as very well-behaved but also very excited and energetic.

Nor’wester Therapy Dogs has been going strong for 16 years now and always appreciates the support that they have been given. To donate to the program, learn more about the program or look into getting involved visit norwestertherapydogs.org.