EOU Students Find Midterm Relief With Puppies, Piglets, and Miniature Horses

Puppies, piglets, and miniature horses filled the EOU Fieldhouse on Wednesday as Eastern Oregon University students traded midterm anxiety for animal therapy at the campus's annual Stress Less event.

The gathering, held March 11 in La Grande, is organized and run by students each winter term, timed deliberately to coincide with the pressure of midterm exams. The EOU Fieldhouse, typically a venue for athletics, became a temporary petting zoo of sorts, with Bernese mountain dogs among the animals brought in to give students a brief but tangible reprieve from studying.

Animal-assisted stress relief has gained traction at universities across the country as research increasingly links brief interactions with animals to measurable reductions in cortisol levels and self-reported anxiety. At EOU, the tradition has taken root as a winter term fixture, with students taking ownership of the logistics and animal coordination themselves.

The choice of animals at this year's event leaned toward the unexpected. Miniature horses and piglets alongside puppies made for a more eclectic lineup than the dogs-only programs common at larger institutions, reflecting the agricultural character of Eastern Oregon and the surrounding Union County region.

Stress Less has become one of the more anticipated events on EOU's winter academic calendar, offering a low-barrier way for students to decompress before the back half of the term bears down.