According to a New York Times story about colleges extending welcome mats to pets - including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, State University of New York at Canton and Stephens College - are encouraging first year students to bring their pets from home. Experts suggest, the pets help ease the students into college life by bringing a little bit of home with them. And, of course, pets ease stress, and dogs in particular are a social ice-breaker. I get all that.
However, I am also personally concerned that based on experience - colleges know that students are, well, students...not always as responsible as freshmen entering college as they will be in four years. Busy with social activities, and hopefully busy making trips to the library, do they really have time for the pets? And what about the adjustment for the pets? Some dogs pin when the student goes off to college and some social dogs may actually enjoy the transition, other dogs and many cats may not want to leave home.
In fact, some animal shelters near college campuses will not adopt to undergrad students because they've learned by experience, the pets are returned, later found as strays or even "abused." I don't mean physically abused, I mean forced to partake in fraternity events, or practically ignored by distracted students. (Shelters, however, do adopt to graduate students and, of course, veterinary students.)
While there are benefits to beginning school with an old friend with four legs; do the benefits outweigh the risks? Tell me what you think.
You know, I train a fair number of dogs that have been acquired by college students and later deposited (untrained) back home with mom and dad.
I'm not against college students having the option of keeping a pet, but encouraging freshmen to do so seems pretty irresponsible.
Ruth Crisler