ORU Supports Pet Therapy
Tulsa, OK - Caitlyn Peach, a Texas Native who has lived the last 8 years of her life
in Oklahoma, is a sophomore studying business administration at ORU. Like the many
other students on campus, she deals with juggling a heavy work-load, relationships,
and extra-curricular activities such as choir. However, unlike most of the students
at ORU, Caitlyn Peach is also responsible for the schedule and well-being of someone
else: her dog, Nashoba.
Nashoba, meaning “wolf” in Choctaw, is a 6-month old chocolate Lab mix who is currently in training to be an emotional support dog for Caitlyn.
The spring semester of her freshman year, Caitlyn began having panic attacks. She ended up finding out that she had Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a disorder that can cause worry, restlessness, and trouble with concentration even in small activities throughout one’s day. Keeping medication as a last resort, Caitlyn opted to see if she qualified for a service dog.
“I got Nashoba when she was 7-weeks old from a friend whose dog had just had puppies. She had the right temperament for an emotional support animal, and since my doctor had verified that it was okay for me to have a service dog, we went ahead and took her home with us.”
Nashoba has since come to ORU with Caitlyn and is in the middle stages of her training. She has already begun to prove herself as loyal companion in noticing when things are starting to bother Caitlyn.
“Right now we are working on public access training (Nashoba’s behavior in public), and we just started tasks. For example, one of her tasks is to alert me when I am having anxious ticks, such as scratching, and prevent me from doing those things. But before we even started training, she has naturally known when something is wrong, and she will come up to me so I can pet her when I am started to get nervous.”
Even though Nashoba has been a blessing and has already proven herself worthy of the title of “service dog”, there are still some cons to taking care of her.
“It’s basically like walking around with a two- year old. A lot of times I have to stop hanging out with friends to go and take care of her. It was even harder when she was really little because I would have to let her out to go to the bathroom every two to three hours.”
Though having Nashoba has had its ups and downs, Caitlyn is thankful she has been able to get help without taking medication.
After Nashoba has completed her training, she will be able to alert Caitlyn to an oncoming panic attack, pull her out of a panic attack, guide her away from it and be an excuse to get out of a stressful situation.
“The more people are educated about service dogs and their uses, the easier it will be for people who need service dogs to have them. Also, even though service dogs are more than just your average pet, they are still are considered our pets and do get to play and have free time when they aren’t on duty.”
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