ATLANTA - Just down the hall from the reference desk at Emory University's law library in a room housing antique legal texts is Stanley the golden retriever puppy, barking his head off.
Stanley rolls around on the floor and chews on a squeaky toy while zombie-like law students wander in, giant grins breaking out on their weary faces when they see the cuddly boy.
Puppy therapy - just in time for finals week.
From Kent State University in Ohio to Macalester College in Minnesota, more and more pooches are around campus during exams to help students relax.
"We had a student who came in and a staff person commented they had never seen that student smile," said Richelle Reid, a law librarian who started Emory's pet therapy program this year after hearing about one at the University of California-San Francisco. "It has had positive effects, helping them to just have a moment to clear their minds and not have to think about studies, not have to think about books."
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Pups are in counseling centers for students to visit regularly, or faculty and staff bring their pets to lift spirits.
Pet-friendly dorms also are popping up where students can bring their dogs or cats from home.
Want to check out a pet? It's possible at Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, which both have resident therapy dogs in their libraries that can be borrowed through the card catalog just like a book.
Some dogs, like Harvard Medical School's resident Shih Tzu Cooper, hold regular office hours. Researcher Loise Francisco-Anderson owns Cooper and said she got permission to bring him to campus after her husband read that Yale Law School had a therapy dog on campus named Monty.
Cooper is so popular that undergraduate students have been petitioning for him to spend time on their side of campus. Many of them take the shuttle across the river to the medical school just to visit the pup on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
"You can release some of the emotions to a pet that you can't to a human. A pet keeps it confidential. You don't have to worry about someone else saying, 'Oh, I think she's having a nervous breakdown over the science exam,'" said Francisco-Anderson.
Most schools, like Emory, partner with organizations that train companion dogs so that the canines get their social training while students get stress relief.
The service is almost always free for students.
Research shows that interaction with pets decreases the level of cortisol - or stress hormone - and increases endorphins, known as the happiness hormone.
First-year Emory law student Anna Idelevich took a break from studying for exams at the library on a recent afternoon to visit Stanley and Hooch, golden retrievers training to be companion dogs for disabled owners. The university brought in the dogs to help students cope with the stress of exams.
"I've literally been here every day. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me," said Idelevich, 22. "They couldn't have thought of a better way to relieve stress."
