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Are you missing your furry friends at home? Are you, like me, ambushing every dog-walker on campus from the moment you see their pup’s wagging tail from fifty feet away? Are you creeping out the aforementioned pet owners, by gushing and telling them how much you love and miss your dog, cat, lizard, bird, fish, or whatever else you have at home, for a weird amount of time before they gently tug their animal away from your all-too-loving grasp?Alright, hopefully your doggy-detachment issues aren’t as bad as mine. But if the sight of those local Shar-Pei’s brown puddles for eyes are making your heartstrings feel like they could snap, here are three major ways you can make your time at Mount Holyoke fuzzier and friendlier. (Also, you might want to get the heart thing checked out at the Health Center.)
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1. You might find comfort and satisfaction in lending a hand to the animal world in exchange for what your furry friend has done for you. Do your research. (Don’t panic at the word “research”, this isn’t your senior thesis.) A quick Google search on how to help animals online leads to a plethora of reputable orgs dedicated to improving animal life. All you need to do is decide what kind of help is best for you and your level of commitment. You could limit your help to making donations online; places like The Animal Rescue Site even have click-to-give links, which is exactly what it sounds like, and costs nothing but five seconds of your time. If you’re really craving furry friendship far from home, though, local non-profits are always looking for passionate souls who can make time to do some hands-on volunteer work. For instance, Gemini’s Pampered Greyhounds, who visited on Pangy Day last April, is located right in Amherst, and fosters retired raceing hounds looking for forever homes. No matter your schedule, there’s always time to help a furry friend in need.
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2. Talk to the locals. A small handful of students on campus have dogs as comfort animals. I’m not saying you should befriend your classmates for their dogs, but they might be grateful for someone who’s enthusiastic about giving their pooch a walk or dog sitting every now and then. And if you’re a real go-getter, like your rĂ©sumĂ© probably says, you could branch out even further and drum up a little business for yourself. Especially if you have a car, or are very adept at getting around the Pioneer Valley area, you could  get friendly with the dozens of South Hadleyans who walk their dogs on campus and offer your services (in the least -creepy way possible, please.) Climbing a little bit out of that broke-college-student hole AND hanging out with some chill canine friends? What more could you need?
3. Find something new to take care of. If you’re struggling to keep your freshman plant from the greenhouse alive – or if it’s already dead (relax, you’ll still probably graduate, probably) – don’t lose hope! Current MHC regulations allow for students to keep fully-aquatic animals, like fish or some frogs, that can live in tanks of five gallons or less. Keeping fish as pets has been shown to calm nerves and lower stress, plus their maintenance, care, and feeding can be relaxing in its routine-ness. They might not fetch, and it’s not really advisable to stick your hand in and pet them, but they can be a beautiful addition to your dorm room and can be a beautiful, colorful new friend. Plus, they won’t bark or make a mess.
Between classes, extra-curriculars, social life, and trying to get at least a little sleep in at night, it’s not easy for the typically over-committed Mount Holyoke student to squeeze in time to volunteer, dog-sit, or take care of another living thing. Find what works for you, and when you come home for break and see your cat for the first time in months, maybe this time you won’t be so animal deprived that she’ll claw your skin in terror when you snatch her from the carpet, and bury your sobbing face into her fur. (Sorry Fluffy, it won’t happen again.)