We’re exactly a month into the school year at this point and homesickness is likely to be settling in. Now, it’s almost impossible to be missing your family’s cooking with Virginia Tech Dining so easy to access. Maybe you miss your room at home or having a bathroom all to yourself, but for me? It’s my senior year and every year I miss my dogs before I miss anything else.
I had the luxury of having my perfect pup Kodah, a little husky mix I adopted freshman year, live with me in my apartment in Blacksburg. Let me tell you, it’s really hard to transition from having a pet to not — so to all the freshmen out there, I feel your pain again.
Luckily, with three years on this campus under my belt, I’ve become pretty good at figuring out different ways I can get my fix of dogs that I don’t actually own.
The Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center
This is the main humane society/animal shelter in Christiansburg and let me tell you, it’s amazing. It was built during my time at Tech, so it’s fairly new, incredibly nice inside and has one of the best staffs I’ve ever encountered.
They have dogs and cats, so whichever animal you prefer you’ll be able to play with! Some of the cats are in rooms, rather than cages, that you can just walk into and pet. These cats are typically calmer ones that enjoy human attention, so you don’t have to worry about being bitten or scratched too easily.
If dogs are more your speed, you can walk through the area where the dogs are in their cages and pet them through them. If you want a better interaction with the dogs, you can sign-up and take a quick lesson on walking them and be able to actually have one-on-one time with some of them!
Squires Student Center
Throughout the semester, therapy dogs come to Squires for the sole purpose of helping students reduce stress. It’s typically during exam times, but these dogs are super friendly and their owners love answering questions about how they adopted them and having them do tricks!
There is usually a Facebook event made for each session the therapy dogs have so that students can easily find out about them. It’s run through the PAWS program, and although it’s usually dogs there are also cats that occasionally come and a bunny.
Drillfield
Get out on the Drillfield while you still have a chance to soak up the warm weather … and all. the. dogs. This is the most jolly time of the year (sorry Santa) because with a nice breeze and the sun shining, dog owners in Blacksburg LOVE to bring their pups to hang out.
They’re all super nice and their dogs are usually well-behaved because why would they bring them to such a public place if they weren’t?
The Blacksburg Dog Park
Did you know Blacksburg had a dog park? Well you learn something new everyday and this information you’ll want to remember! We do have a dog park and it’s a great place to go to find some pups to play with.
You might feel like the middle-aged man going to a playground without a kid at first, but I promise it’s really not that weird and people assume you always want to pet their dogs.
Cook Counseling Center/Their Events
If the name Moose doesn’t ring a bell in your mind, you’re doing something wrong. Moose is a therapy dog at Cook Counseling Center, and to me, one of their mascots. He attends nearly every event they host, so you get to typically get some free stuff and pet a dog — is there a better combination on Earth?
He also will sometimes attend group therapy sessions and works mostly with one counselor. If you’re struggling a little bit more with homesickness than you originally thought you would, going to talk to someone at Cook might be a really good outlet for you to not only get your dog fix, but also help work through some things you might be struggling with — never feel afraid or embarrassed to reach out!
Fall Break is just around the corner and Thanksgiving Break will be here before you know it, so in the meantime, use these helpful tips to find some dogs to love on until you get to hug yours again!
Image Sources: GIFs from Giphy.com