You’re walking through the quad, silent tears rolling down your face, studying note cards you made the night before. All of a sudden, students are running by you shouting, “there’s dogs in the library!” and you feel a sense of overwhelming excitement. What started as another terrible day during finals week ended with a comforting break spent with playful pups.

During heavy testing weeks, the University often hosts therapy dogs in Middleton Library. These dogs, ranging from little puppies to massive dogs, are brought in by Baton Rouge volunteers who want students and faculty to pet until their hearts are content.

This is a great, virtually free way to de-stress that benefits the entire Baton Rouge community by giving both students and dog owners a reason to socialize on campus. Many of the owners I’ve met during these days are elderly, and some have told me they look forward to the days they get to come to the University because they love talking to the students.

Hosting pet therapy in Middleton Library is such an easy, wholesome activity with many benefits. There isn’t a reason the University shouldn’t host more in the upcoming year. Though these days are traditionally during midterms and finals, the University could branch out and extend the pet therapy services. It is a healthy way to ease the minds of many students, even if only for a few minutes.

Many students have been affected by the Harvey floods in Texas this week. Texas Tigers have come from all over the Lone Star State to continue their educations here, leaving their homes behind this week. As many students sit in their dorms and apartments, watching their homes and families fight a losing battle against flooding, pet therapy would be something that many people would find comfort in.

College students also sometimes irresponsibly adopt a pet because they miss having a dog like they do at home. Desperately looking for their puppy fix, droves of college students head to the shelters and adoption events seeking a furry friend that will fill the dog-shaped hole in their hearts. Dogs take a lot more patience and time than most expect. Soon these students will be falling behind in classwork, sleep and sanity trying to take care of their dogs.

If the University would host dogs more often in the library or the Parade Ground, students would feel less inclined to buy dogs for their small apartments because they have somewhere to go to feel the happiness dogs carry with them.

Because pet therapy costs little to no money, there is no reason we shouldn’t expand this heartwarming event. The University has done an amazing thing by hosting dogs, and it would be even better if we focused more on pet therapy and implementing it more often throughout the year.

Casey Pimentel is an 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas.