Photo cutline: First-year student Olivia Verhaalen said she was excited to see the event and all the dogs on Upper Campus. 

Fluffy friends visited students on Upper Campus from 5-7 p.m. on Dec. 7 in the Suites and Karlgaard Towers lobbies for another Bark Break. The Sue Strowig Memorial Bark Break is a separate event from the therapy dogs that often visit in McIntyre Library.

For this event, UW-Eau Claire invites faculty and staff to bring their dogs, usually to the Campus Mall, but this event was brought to Upper Campus on account of the cold weather.

Jennifer McGeorge, executive assistant for enrollment Management Division, spoke about the event.

“Since students enjoy these events tremendously — so do the dogs — Chancellor Jim charged our division to create similar events on Upper Campus,” she said. 

While there were some challenges associated with this, like determining how many dogs could attend because of the indoor location, the popularity of the event has grown since it began in 2021, according to McGeorge. 

“The Sue Strowig Memorial Bark Break events have been a success on Lower Campus since Fall of 2021 as an ‘agent of retention’ idea by our staff, and they have grown to have an average of 50 dogs and over 500 students,” McGeorge said.

First-year student Olivia Verhaalen, who has previously attended Bark break events on Lower Campus, said she was excited to see the event on Upper Campus. 

“I really like all dogs,” she said. “It is nice to take a break from school and pet a dog once in a while.”

Several dogs made an appearance, and some even were festively dressed for the occasion like Henry, who was accompanied by his owner Brad. 

“His mom said the outfit was a must,” Brad said. 

Mulligan and his human Quincy also attended the event. Mulligan is a 150-pound dog who shares his name with the golf term. 

In golf, a mulligan is a second chance to perform an action, usually after the first stroke when something goes wrong. Since Quincy and his family are golfers, when they had the chance to get Mulligan out of a bad situation and give him a second chance, the name seemed fitting for him. 

Several students agreed that even just spending time with the dogs and their owners did alleviate their stress, which is on the rise as we approach finals week according to Lucy, who is a student at UW-Eau Claire.

“I think that it’s very stress relieving for students and allows for a good break from studying,” Lucy said. “I would definitely go again when they have another event.”

McGeorge has mentioned the benefits of hosting this event and how it allows for more connections between students and staff. 

“We invite our faculty and staff to bring their own dogs to these events to help students that may be missing their dog at home, alleviate stress and give students a chance to connect with staff that they do not ordinarily have contact with,” McGeorge said. 

Lucy said her favorite dog at the event was Wolfee, while one of Verhaalen’s favorite dogs was Wilbur, who is owned by Sarah and Matt. He recently turned six years old and loves to get his back scratched. 

While this was the first indoor event, McGeorge thinks it went well.

“Our first indoor event had a steady flow of students stopping by to give the dogs some love,” McGeorge said.

Moris can be reached at [email protected].