Are Dogs in Dorm Rooms a Good Idea?

There's a growing trend of colleges welcoming canines and other pets on campus. According to the New York Times, about a dozen colleges have policies that allow pets, ranging from small dogs to snakes.

One of those pet-friendly schools is Stephens College in Missouri. President Dianne Lynch says that "helicopter parenting" (a.k.a. "overparenting," when parents constantly hover, whether their kids need them or not) is making it harder for students to adjust to college life. But having a pet around can change that. "Bringing this particular piece of home with them may make that separation easier."

Not everyone agrees. Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, a child psychiatrist, thinks pets may make the transition to college harder. "By having your pet there, you could have an excuse not to go out and talk to people."

This is the first time I've heard a psychiatrist — or anyone, for that matter — say that pets are an excuse to be less social. Animals are commonly known to help people overcome social anxieties and isolation, particularly dogs, who force people to get out more often. Pets are also the perfect icebreaker when meeting new people; it's a lot easier to find common ground with pets than to start of with personal questions.

But that's not to say the idea of pets on campus is problem-free.

I worked for several years at an animal shelter in a college town. At the end of every semester, there was an influx of animals who had been relinquished or abandoned. Students who had obtained animals during the school year couldn't bring them home or lost interest. And the daily examples of irresponsibility ranged from leaving their animals alone for long hours to letting them drink beer at parties.

The colleges who welcome pets are well aware of the potential issues when you mix students and animals, and they've tried to design policies with high expectations for responsibility and commitment. Eckerd College in Florida says "Any cat or dog living on campus must be at least one year old and have lived with the student or the student's family for at least 10 months prior to living on campus."

Schools like Eckerd and Stephens also have a Pet Council, made up of students and faculty who help enforce pet rules like keeping them out of common areas to minimize distraction and reduce exposure for people with allergies. Others require proof of spay/neuter and vaccinations, or have size limitations (although Stephens College recently relaxed this rule, recognizing that bigger dogs are often calmer and quieter than the little ones.) The policy at Stephens in regards to noise complaints is fair, too — while they take excessive barking seriously, your pup gets a three week grace period at the beginning of the semester to adjust to life in the dorm.

With policies that discourage irresponsible ownership, pets on campus can be very beneficial. Pet ownership among college students tends to be sink or swim, and those who take the responsible route typically find that having an animal helps them establish a routine, learn independence, and get a crash course in caring for others. Pets are also known to reduce stress, and having animals around who are loved is a much better idea for stress relief than renting dogs for finals week, as some colleges have done.

Allowing pets on campus may be beneficial for enrollment, too. If there had been pet policies like this when I was headed to college, there's a good chance it would have influenced my decision where to attend.

Photo credit: newandrew