Therapy-dog visits credited with easing student anxiety at Perry High School, library staff say

Perry Library employees with the Maricopa County Library District said a therapy-dog program launched after a series of incidents at Perry High School has engaged more than 1,500 students, staff and teachers and participants report reduced test anxiety and improved mental well-being.

Library staff said the idea originated with Shelly Reddy, library supervisor for the Maricopa County Library District. “Our library supervisor, Shelly Reddy, she’s the one that came up with the idea of bringing in therapy dogs,” a library staff member said.

The program, referred to by participants as “doggo de stress,” gives students brief visits with therapy dogs on campus. “It’s been wonderful, and the kids absolutely love it,” a student said. The student described regular attendees whom “the dogs zone in on… They get to run around in the courtyard with them, and they just absolutely love it and they have a good time.”

Library staff said the program has reached more than 1,500 students, staff and teachers since its inception. Students told staff the visits helped them manage test anxiety; a staff member relayed an instance in which a student who visited the dogs “did much better than they usually do on a test” after getting a chance to decompress.

Students offered first-person accounts of the visits’ effects. “It definitely improves my mental health. I think it gives a sense of relief to students who are in classes and are currently having, like, a difficult time,” one student said. Another student said the dogs “are very, very comforting… and it helps them release their emotions.”

No funding sources, formal program approval process, or ongoing evaluation metrics were specified in the remarks. Organizers did not provide details on animal handler certifications, frequency of visits per school day, or any formal partnership agreements with the district during the recorded comments.

The program is presented by library staff as a school-based, animal-assisted wellness activity aimed at short-term stress relief for students; staff and students provided anecdotal reports of benefits but did not cite formal outcome studies or districtwide assessments.