Sep 19, 2014 02:14 PM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Oklahoma State University has launched the nation's most comprehensive, full-time university-wide pet therapy program.

Pete's Pet Posse, named after the school's iconic school mascot Pistol Pete, is designed to help students, faculty and staff and campus visitors overcome emotional and stressful situations. Many of the dogs in the pet therapy pack are rescues.

"Pete's Pet Posse is a pro-active pet therapy program not a reactive dog therapy program," Lara Sypniewski, Henthorne clinical professor of small animal medicine at the university's Veterinary Medical Hospital, said in a statement. "Most programs bring in therapy pets only during high stress times like finals week. At [Oklahoma State University] we know there is always anxiety on any campus so our program has dogs and their owner/handlers strategically deployed across the campus to be prepared when the need arises."

Previous studies have shown that animals can reduce stress and lower blood pressure, triglycerides and cholesterol. Dogs from Pete's Pet Posse are located with their volunteer owner/handler in a variety of campus departments on a regular basis. Each department determines how the dogs will be used.

"On occasion, I have requested one of the dogs to come up to my office for a meeting with a student. Students that have experienced a significant loss or difficult problems often find it comforting to pet the dog during our discussions. Dogs provide unconditional love, never judge and always keep confidences," Lee Bird, Oklahoma State University's vice president of Student Affairs, said in a statement.

Dogs involved in the therapy program are volunteers who live with their owners/handlers and come to campus to "serve." Each dog and handler team undergoes intensive training in partnership with the university's College of Veterinary Medicine and must pass certification standards to wear the Pete's Pet Posse orange therapy dog vest.

The program was created by the OSU Center for Veterinary Health Sciences in cooperation with the OSU Veterinary Medical Hospital, University Counseling, Human Resources, and the Employee Assistance Program.

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