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As a student, going to college can be really stressful. Maybe this is your first time leaving your loved ones behind, and you’re living on your own. Perhaps you’re feeling anxious about an upcoming test that you need to pass.
At Sacramento State, in the Student Health, Counseling & Wellness Services, you can get emotional support in the form of four legs and one tail — Duke, “the gentle giant.”
Duke is a 3-year-old, 130-pound hypoallergenic Newfoundland Doodle mix therapy dog at Sac State whose job is to be a support system for students. He’s available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and was named after Duke Kahanamoku, the Hawaiian swimmer.
“Duke Kahanamoku’s legacy was about agility and grace and that spirit of Aloha, and that’s really what Duke is all about,” Senior Associate Vice President Jeanne Harris Van Dahlen, his owner, said. “For our students, it is bringing that ohana, that family together, and letting them just have a little bit of familiarity like they had before they left home.”
Duke and his owner Jeanne Harris Van Dahlen.Photo courtesy of Sacramento StateDuke has undergone two years of training, according to Van Dahlen, and assists students with anxiety and stress by offering support in counseling sessions, at campus events, and in classrooms.
She said Duke was specially bred and trained for his role. A generous donation from Kaiser Foundation funded his training, Van Dahlen said.
Students can access him through the Student Health, Counselling & Wellness services.
“We have students that request him. So the counselor will get him and bring him into the room if a student requests it,” she said. “If a student’s here for maybe a trauma, sometimes the nurses will go and get him and bring him up. So we make sure he’s available whenever he’s asked, if he’s not already booked. We only have one Duke.”
Sac State student Flona Gorgis is a master’s student in counseling and a peer health educator.
Gorgis said she’s had many interactions with Duke — all positive — and the most recent was a photo shoot that the department took with the dog.
“At first glance, he’s like one of the biggest dogs I’ve seen, because he’s like a 130-pound doodle,” Gorgis said. “That can be intimidating at first, but he’s actually really caring and intuitive and perceptive.”
Gorgis recalled a specific interaction she had with Duke during the photo shoot, when he came up to her because she was super excited and nervous.
“He kept coming up to me the first few minutes and it didn’t really hit me why he was doing that until I was told that he senses if someone’s nervous, and he goes and comforts them,” she said. “And I didn’t even consciously realize I was anxious. So it’s pretty cool that he picked up on that. I think he’s really good for students.”
Duke with students from the health and wellness services.Photo courtesy of Sacramento State
Despite his size, Gorgis said her favorite thing about Duke is how calm and attentive he is.
“I feel like he just somehow knows how students are feeling, and meets them where they’re at,” she said. “I also feel like he’s really well trained, so he makes like a perfect companion for a lot of students here, especially when they’re feeling stress, feeling like stress or anxiety or feeling off, which can be really common for college students around this time.”
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