EduCare at BCCHS hosted a Puppy Petting event on Thursday, September 26, 2024, for students to relax and have fun after school from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. As soon as 8th period ended, a long line formed in the quad. Students and staff members surrounded the little pen and adored the multitude of puppies. How did meeting these fluffy friends really impact the student’s day and well-being?
First of all, it brought smiles to a lot of Birmingham students. Seniors called this experience comforting, and one of the 12th graders, Bryanna Licea, stated that the puppies helped her relax after a test that day, “Being with the puppies distracted my mind from the score that I might get on my test.”
Camila Fernandez (12), called it a meditative experience: “I think for me, I was just focusing on so many things at once. My brain was just scattered. So the fact that you could just go to the environment where your only focus was one thing, the puppies, definitely helped you reduce your anxiety. It helped you clear your mind since they did it in the quad where we were surrounded by nature and by trees.”
Having dogs on campus delighted the BCCHS community. Joseph Ly (12) said, “I mean they are the puppies, who wouldn’t want to come!?” But not all the students had the same positive experience. “When I was petting them, I was really stressed,” shared Fahyma Noor (12). Students who share negative interactions with animals like me, will find this relatable. Noor later clarified, “So when I was there, I was a bit scared that they were going to bite me. It was scary.”
It turned out that not all the students had to stand in the long line to see the puppies: “We didn’t wait because we are a part of the Educare club,” Noor commented. But Licea, who had to stand in line, said, “I think it was worth the wait when I got there. The line was long, but it wasn’t as long as I thought it would be.”
After this event was canceled the first time due to an earlier lockdown, students were even more excited to see the puppies. It especially attracted many students who don’t have any pets at home, so the chance to interact with cute animals fueled the anticipation of meeting them at school.
Not only did this event help many students get away from the stress of school, but it also led to student reflection. After naturally attracting the puppies, Fernandez had an insight: “Whatever is meant for you will come to you.” Joseph Ly added, “I learned that puppies are a good way to make time go faster because those five minutes felt so short.”
When asked what was the funniest thing they saw a puppy do, the students remarked on moments when the dogs didn’t act in ways they expected. They pointed out two puppies escaping the pen, for example, or when “two of the puppies were sitting on Fernandez’s lap and one was standing on her thighs and it was funny.” Another time, when the students tried to reach out for the puppies to hug them, they ran in different directions instead. “They are silly creatures,” Fernandez concluded.
Students believed that the interaction between humans and other dogs made the puppies feel better, and as Noor pointed out, they also got to sit on our laps. Fernandez said: “I hope they received the love our Birmingham students had to offer.” Noor and Licea both observed that the dogs were given a lot of food and snacks, which was another way they were shown care and love.
As for one of the negatives, the girls pointed out the dirty field. “We were sitting on the ground and it was muddy. It’s like why?” Fernandez wanted to enhance the variety of animals and added that if she were a host, she would have multiple pans to shorten the wait. Ly wanted to see a bigger pen because “it felt pretty cramped in there.”
Students shared a variety of opinions, but what’s clear is, that the puppy petting event inspired us to have more interaction with cute pets, whether by having pets on their own, or inviting them to our campus in the future.
