Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Tinker, EMU’s facilities dog, helps students reduce stress in “open paw-fice hours”
Meet Tinker: Eastern Michigan University’s new facility dog
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Since fall of 2024, students at Eastern Michigan University have had access to a unique campus resource for stress relief and management. Her name is Tinker, and she is a professionally trained facility dog who's helping to make EMU's campus feel more calm and focused during the academic years. Joining me today is Alexis Braun Marks, one of Tinker's handlers and department head in Halle Library. Alexis, welcome! It's great to have you here!
Alexis Braun Marks: Thanks for having me, Lee!
Lee Van Roth: For those of us who are just now being introduced to Tinker, can you explain who she is and what her actual job description would be?
Alexis Braun Marks: Yeah. So, Tinker is a three-year-old Golden Retriever who has been with us on campus for three semesters now. She was brought in to be a facility dog at Eastern, so she only works here at EMU. So, when we have tour groups or students come by and they say, "Whose dog is this?" I say, "It's your dog." It's Eastern's dog. She works for Eastern. She just comes home with myself and Dean Fritz of College of Health and Human Services, who's her other handler. She has open, we call them, "paw-fice hours," where students can just drop in and hang out for as little or as long as they have. And she's here to just kind of bump everybody's serotonin and bring down their blood pressure.
Lee Van Roth: And a facility dog, this is different from a service animal or an emotional support animal. For students who come and visit Tinker for the first time, how do you kind of explain what her role is in this capacity, I guess?
Alexis Braun Marks: Yeah. So, I sort of describe it, think of it as a continuum, right? Your personal pet is at one end, and a seeing eye dog is at the other end, right? And so, from your personal pet, you have emotional support animals, you have dogs that have passed who are personal pets that have done therapy training, and then you have facility dogs that are much, much closer to being a one-to-one service animal. So, Tinker was raised by an organization called Paws with a Cause. They train animals from puppy all the way until they're juveniles, about two years old. And at that point, they assess them for what sort of skills they have. So, if they are of a particular temperament and can pass the certification to be a one-to-one service animal, that's where they will place them. That's their priority. And if they can't, I like to think that they're being promoted to being a facility dog. So, facility dog is really, they can read dog culture and human culture. They can manage spaces in a way that pets can't necessarily. So, Tinker can sit for an hour-and-a-half and have anywhere from 10 to 30 people pet, love, lay, hug, all the things. And she's so happy, right, but she is a little distractible. She loves the squirrels on campus.
Lee Van Roth: Oh, and there's so many squirrels on campus!
Alexis Braun Marks: So many squirrels, which means that she is not an ideal service dog, right? But she is very, very good at what she does.
Lee Van Roth: You mentioned how there are opportunities where several people can visit with Tinker at a time. I know she also can do one-on-one sort of events as well. Why was that important to use this resource in that way as opposed to individuals can make an appointment to see Tinker and maybe working with CAPS and that kind of regard?
Alexis Braun Marks: So, I think a couple of things happened at once. So, Dean Fritz was sort of working on this independently. I was sort of muddling this over for the College of Health and Human Services that has social work, occupational therapy, nursing, really human-facing majors and programs. Dean Fritz felt like it was something that the college could really benefit from. And the library, having a cross section of the university coming to it, felt like a good space. So, we independently were connected, and so, went into it together. I think with the recognition that we were bringing in therapy animals, rabbits, puppies during finals week, but the campus community, I think, needs more, right? Our students need more than just a furry friend during finals. They need a furry friend all the way through the academic semester, all the ways through the summer, right? We've got students who are far away from home who are missing their family pet, students who have put down a pet who are missing their furry friend. And it is really developed a wonderful sense of community. We have the same students come back to office hours every week. And so, I have a colleague who referred to it as an "accidental care ecosystem" that has sort of developed around Tinker's office hours.
Lee Van Roth: Paw-fice hours.
Alexis Braun Marks: Paw-fice hours. Thank you very much.
Lee Van Roth: You had mentioned Paws with a Cause, and that was the training aspect to getting Tinker onto campus. But I'm curious if there was any specific training—or guiding, I suppose—to ensure that she was a good fit in this academic kind of space.
Alexis Braun Marks: Yeah. So, she was placed with us. And then, Dean Fritz and I went through a couple of months of training, right? So, we have to also be trained, so that we can handle her and maintain her training. And she has to be recertified every year to make sure that she is doing the things she needs to do to be successful on campus. But I think ultimately Paws looked at her temperament before they even placed her. And they will make sure, if it's not a good fit, that we find a different place, but I think the university for her is a great place because she has so many people that can come and love on her. And she loves to be adored. She is quite the diva!
Lee Van Roth: This is On the Ground Ypsi on 89.1 WEMU. I'm talking with Alexis Braun Marks about Tinker, the facility dog and her impact at Eastern Michigan University. So, I'm wondering if there's a specific instance of bringing Tinker into a space or working with either a group or an individual that really stuck out to you as far as like, "This is a really good resource for us to have here on this campus!"
Alexis Braun Marks: I mean, there's all sorts of different...I mean, yes! I could sit here and tell you all sorts of stories of students stopping us on campus and being like, "Oh my God! Is that Tinker?"
Lee Van Roth: She's a celebrity!
Alexis Braun Marks: And taking selfies with her, right? A student coming the first week of class and being, like, "I thought she was a myth!" But we had one student in particular, and I think this really speaks volumes to the impact that Tinker can have. She was coming to office hours every week. And I would see her and touch base with her. She was a freshman. And then, for a few weeks, I wasn't seeing her at all. And then, she came back and I said, "I haven't seen you. Where have you been?" And she had a tragedy in the family that had kept her away from campus. And I said, "Tinker's upstairs. Would you like to go and sit with her?" And she just started crying and said, "Yes, please! That would be so helpful" and went and sat with Tinker for an hour. And you could tell she just sort of calmed down. She continues to come to Tinker's office hours. We continue to touch base, see how she's doing a year later, but I think that's really the power of that animal, right? Tinker is an amazing addition to our campus, and I think we're very, very lucky to have her.
Lee Van Roth: Would you say, on you as the handlers, is there that similar impact on you and Dean Fritz as well? Is Tinker kind of always on the clock in that kind of way?
Alexis Braun Marks: I mean, I guess, yeah. We always say, like, at Jenny's house, she gets dog time, right? And at my house, she gets kid time. Jenny's children are adults in college and out of college now. So, she gets sort of different energy. And I think, yeah, she's helpful for all of us, right? Whether it's a student, a staff member, faculty member, I think she is just like this bright ray of sunshine. And I think makes a lot of connections for both Dean Fritz and I that we wouldn't otherwise have. So, she's been a real gift!
Lee Van Roth: From your perspective, working so closely with both Dean Fritz and with Tinker and being able to have these important and powerful conversations with folks on campus, what does Tinker's presence on campus and that kind of dedication to the community on campus say about what EMU is thinking about student well-being, support, what this kind of step means for increasing those supports on campus?
Alexis Braun Marks: I think it is, definitely. It is a commitment to a community of care and a campus of care. And I think she is available for students in a way that maybe is a little less barrier-free. They don't have to make an appointment to go and see someone at CAPS. They don't have to an appointment with advising. It's a very kind of low-pressure environment, where they don't have to say a lot about what's going on. They can just sort of be and be still and sort of reset. And so, I think, overall, to me, it shows a deep, deep commitment on the part of Eastern to look for as many creative ways as possible to provide spaces of care and calm and mental health support.
Lee Van Roth: Alexis, thank you so much for joining me here today and for helping us better understand Tinker and her work! I mean, it's so cool to see that being taken so seriously and taken to this kind of level!
Alexis Braun Marks: Thank you for having us! If you'd like to follow her shenanigans, as I say, you can find her on Instagram at EMUTinker and see her romping in the fields.
Lee Van Roth: For more on today's conversation and a link to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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