ssues & ideas EDITOR MONA BUTLER THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 12, 2015 7 Dogs are a student's best friend A pet can be a fun, useful companion, but having one can bring about unique issues Courtesy of MARTIN MROZ A PADS service dog lays down during a dog therapy session at SFU during the exam period of spring 2014. No space for de-stress pups Langara struggles to get room to accommodate puppy therapy but SFU has no problem By MARK STUART eing able to de-stress with cute dogs during exam time has be- come a popular trend at other post-secondary institutions but Langara College has been left out of the trend for lack of space. The inaugural exam-time “puppy room” took place at Dalhousie Univer- sity in Nova Scotia in 2012 and quickly caught on at other schools. One of the schools to hold this activ- ity is SFU. According to Martin Mroz, director of health and counselling ser- vices at SFU, the process has been a glowing success every year. “We've had amazing responses to it. We started it in 2012, when I first took my dog in, and since then the response has really been quite overwhelming,” said Mroz. As for why Langara can’t host such an activity, space and liability seem to 66 Ive done itin small lounge ar- eas; you re- ally don’t need much space to accommo- date it MARTIN MROZ Director of health and councelling services at SFU would have to bea policy in place which WEIRD servic be the primary hur- dles. Wendy Lannard, director of facilities at Langara_ said that, “the main is- sue right now would be space to accommodate such an activity. Pres- ently Langara has a space shortage and would not be able to entertain the idea because we would have no- where to accommo- date this.” “Secondly, if Langara did sup- port a puppy room on campus there would address issues like liability, noise disruption, people will allergies, fears, etc.” she added. When SFU was posed with space problems, Mroz said that it was never an issue finding new locations. “lve done it in small lounge areas, you really don’t need that much space to accommodate it,” he said, “When it became a bigger deal, we moved it out- side.” It’s something that students at Lan- gara are onboard with. “T think it would be a cool idea, pup- pies are pretty cute,” said third-year psychology student Alysha Watt.“It’s hard to be stressed when you're play- ing with something that’s so adorable and has no stress itself, puppies are so carefree.” ahimais Ferrets who alert their owners to seizures HM Boa constrictors who squeeze their owners harder to alert them to a seiziure HE Parrots who talk their bipolar owners out of a psychotic episode HE Miniature horses who act as seeing- eye guides HE Pigs are easily trainable for many assitant tasks HE Capuchin monkeys trained to assist with grasping items Souce: NCHPAD blog Service pets welcome on campuses The use of guide dogs is becoming more common as their jobs expand beyond the traditional roles By SEAN LEE ing easier for students with guide dogs, according to John Wheel- wright, the executive director of Dogs with Wings. Service animals such as guide dogs on campus weren’t very common years ago, but as their jobs expanded beyond just visual or hearing impairment, in- stitutions are seeing an increase in number of them. “Tt’s not just guide dogs. We have dogs being used for emotional support, helping people with autism spectrum disorder, and other physical or psycho- logical challenges,” Wheelwright said. Students with guide dogs may face challenges that are unique to campus life. Hallways or stairwells may be crowd- ed, the dog might get startled, or the planned routes may not be optimal in which case the trainers would have to retrain the dog, he said. However, despite these challenges, Wheelwright said that generally peo- ple on campus are helpful to these stu- dents. “You get a good deal of buy-in from the general student population. The person with the dog may become a bit notorious. I think people go out of their way to help. Stepping out of the way, or making sure there’s a bowl of water around,” said Wheelwright. “We found that people want to be helpful.” Any student who requires service animals must visit disabilities services on campus in Building B, room B139 and fill out the proper documentation for approval. Any Langara staff that re- quire service animals must visit hu- man resources in Building B, room B201. Disabilities services was unable to give a comment by deadline. Biers life on campus is becom- Housing harder to fin JASON HAMILTON photo A Nicola street resident takes his dog Chulo for a walk. Having a pet makes it dif- ficult to find an apartment but there are ways to make your pet rental-friendly By JASON HAMILTON a rental unit as a student with a pet you may want to consider cre- ating a pet resume according to the BC SPCA. The associations renters guide says that only 15-20 per cent of downtown Vancouver apartments allow cats and even fewer allow dogs. It is far easier to find a rental unit that allows pets in the suburbs than downtown. Ryan Voutilainen, manager of the Burnaby branch of the BC SPCA advis- es students to go to check the pet- T: increase your chances of finding friendly housing resources. Their web- site helps with putting together a letter for potential landlords and how to draft a pet policy. “About 20 per cent of the animals we receive through our shelters is usually due to housing related issues,” Vouti- lainen said, “tenants with pets stay on average for 46 months compared to 18 months for those without pets.” Global Education City Holdings Inc. (GEC) is a student-focused real estate company that retrofits apartments and old hotels into luxury rental units for students. Rodney Davidson, property manag- er for GEC, said that although they don’t have pet-friendly units available yet, it is something they might consider in the future. “It’s hard when you have students living together with shared spaces. When it comes to pets, not everyone with Fido likes having animals around, especially those without pets. We are not opposed to the idea of pets and it is something we may look into,” Davidson said. As for service animals, he said, “We don’t discriminate and service animals aren’t considered pets. We will follow the laws regarding service animals.” According to the BC SPCA, if you find a place that allows pets, keep in mind they may charge a pet deposit. This deposit can be up to, but no more than, half a month’s rent regardless of the number of animals and can only be used by a landlord to cover damages incurred directly from a pet. Voutilainen also explained that al- though many people are refused hous- ing due to potential damages incurred by pets, there is factually no significant difference in damages between tenants with pets and those without them.