SUNY Oswego’s Course On Canine Companionship

However, it was a 9-month-old German Shepherd Rottweiler mix named Samantha that the class was observing. You would think that a class like this, where you play with a different dog each week would be a thrill for everyone, but Professor David Sargent said it was a lot harder to get approved than one would think.

“I had to get the usual approvals and then talk to the legal representatives to make sure it was going to work in terms of the legalities and those kinds of things,” Sargent said.

Since the class has been approved both students and professors have been trying to take it.  SUNY Oswego student Brianna Brogan took the class after talking to friends who have taken it previous semesters.

“I talked to a lot of my friends who took it and they said it was really fun and you learned a lot and because I have a dog I wanted to learn more to how to train them and stuff,” Brogan said.

This class may seem too good to be true if you aren’t afraid of wagging tales and some slobber.  There have been some instances though where the students walk away with more than just some dog hair on their pants.  Professor Sargent explains his favorite instance.

“We had one instance where a student was trying to take a picture of a dog and the dog jumped up and pretty much jammed the camera into the persons nose,” Sargent said. “So that was the bloodiest event we had.”

The canine companion class could be a great break from all the long lectures you have to sit through, as long as you don’t mind sitting on the ground for an hour to observe the dog.