Growing the Pause for Paws Therapy Program

Pause for Paws!

For stressed college students, it is a doggone good way to relax!!

Just image what happens when a dozen therapy dogs descend onto the campus of UC Santa Cruz during finals week…

Frowns from studying students transform into endless smiles, the sound of heavy sighs are replaced with hundreds of oohs and ahs, photos on social media change from frazzled students to countless selfies of smiling dogs and new friends. The tension is replaced with love from the furry friends of Pause for Paws, which is an innovative animal therapy program created to help remind UC Santa Cruz students to take a break from studying.

Now in it’s 3rd year, the program has been wildly popular and successful. In fact, this past quarter’s turnout was the highest yet – A two-hour event, a dozen dogs, and over 600 students. That is a lot of wet kisses, tummy rubs, and tail wagging!

Due to this overwhelming success, we would like to grow the Pause for Paws program beyond finals week to other places on campus, and that is no small task.  We are asking our community to help us raise $2,500, so that this amazing program can expand across campus, to serve more students, more often. As one student recently shared “ten weeks is a long time to go without seeing the dogs, I wished this event would happen more often.”

The $2,500 will be used to support a student coordination position, who will oversee outreach to dog owners, training program, and allow the program to expand to other parts of campus.

Whether you are an advocate for students at UC Santa Cruz or your interests lie in animal therapy, you can make a difference in the lives and success of current students by making your gift today to help expand this incredible program.

Thank you in advance for your gift!