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MMU Sport’s second Discover Guide Dogs event helps students with stress

  • MMU Sports' popular Guide Dogs event returns
  • Students given the chance to play with the guide dogs to relieve stress around busy exam period
  • Event also helps the younger dogs learn how to interact with humans 

Students at Manchester Metropolitan University were given the chance to fight the exam and assignment blues yesterday, by petting and playing with guide dogs and puppies training to be guide dogs, in collaboration with MMU Sports and the Guide Dogs Association. 

Dogs of all ages, mostly of the Labrador breed, visited the Students Union, giving students the opportunity to relieve the stress that exam period brings. 

Students who made a £3.50 donation to the Guide Dogs Association charity were able to spend 15 minutes in a room full of dogs to cuddle, whilst learning about the work the charity does and helping the younger pups to acclimatise to being around humans.

The event was designed to help the mental health of Man Met students, who may be stressed out from a range of worries relating to their course and life in general.  

Event organiser, MMU Sport active lifestyle officer Abi Dean, said:  “We hope that new students who are feeling a bit daunted at University or feeling homesick will take some comfort from this kind of relaxed activity."

Less than a week after National Stress Awareness Day, the event hoped to tackle the rising levels of stress across students in the UK.