Stressed about finals now that the quarter is ending? You are not alone, and the Brooks Library is here to help.

This quarter the Brooks Library will be hosting their third Paws and Relax event in Brooks Library room 152.

The event is for students that want a chance to relax and get some puppy play time in between the stress of the end of the quarter.

This quarter the Paws and Relax event will take place on the Sunday and Monday of finals week.

Sign up sheets for visiting and playing with the dogs will be in the library. The library encourages people to sign up as soon as possible since, last quarter, more than 500 students signed up to participate in the event.

“We are really happy we are able to do this for the students. It is a lot of fun and we are excited to be able to do this again,” said Maureen Rust, student engagement and community outreach librarian.

This event is a relatively new event on Central’s campus, but is not such a new idea around college campuses across the country.

Events like Paws and Relax have been happening at other colleges around the Pacific Northwest for years.

Rust and Stacy Taylor, user experience librarian in ARC research services, took inspiration from those events to create this experience at Central.

After handling all the bureaucracy behind allowing dogs to be on campus, the two women had to find dogs that would be eligible to participate in this event.

“The idea was to use therapy dogs to help comfort students. The problem that we ran into though was that, here in Kittitas County, there are not that many dogs that are certified,” Rust said.

Despite this road block, they found an even better alternative for the community.

With the help of Pet Partners, community members and students have the chance to let their own pets participate in Paws and Relax.

Pet Partners is a nonprofit organization that trains both volunteers and animals for animal-assisted interactions—including therapy, activities and education.

The course to have an animal certified takes five weeks or, as Rust put it, “five Saturdays.”

After completing the course, animals are then certified through Pet Partners, whose course is also recognized through the American Kennel Club.

Dogs participating in the event have all been certified through this course and are local dogs from the community in Ellensburg.

“My dog really has the temperament for this and all he wants is to be near the students,” Taylor, whose dog will be participating in Paws and Relax, said. “After he was in this event whenever we are walking by the school he is always trying to pull me towards the library. He just loves it. It’s like all he wants to do is comfort students.”

This event is sure to be the cutest thing to happen on campus this quarter, and the library staff are not the only ones excited about it.

Jonelle Lauer, junior public relations major, can’t wait to see the dogs at Paws and Relax.

“I’m just really happy about this because I really miss my dog back home and it will be nice to just get to see some puppies again,” Lauer said.