When students leave for college, their pets are among the things they might miss. So when they see a dog frisking across campus, these students are not far behind.

Better yet, when a dog is present in class, students eagerly attend. Three professors at Syracuse University have realized the positives of what it means when a dog is a student’s best friend.

Joan Deppa and Lolly

Joan Deppa says her dog’s passion for grammar is just as strong as her own.

Lolly, short for Lollipop, is a 5-year-old standard Airedale terrier and a frequent face in the classroom through videos and photographs. Deppa, associate professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said she uses Lolly in her PowerPoints to illustrate difficult concepts that students have trouble comprehending.

One day while Deppa was busy at work, she gave Lolly a ball covered with rope to keep her occupied. Deppa watched as Lolly tore off the rope until the ball was bare, leaving a pile of thread on the floor.

‘The problem I had was how do you convince students what it means to modify,’ Deppa said. ‘And here was Lolly doing it and showing you the difference between the regular ball and the modified ball. You cannot train an animal to do that.’

Deppa made Lolly repeat the trick with a new roped ball. She videotaped it and showed it in her next class, claiming the project was a huge success.

Grammar lectures have up to 90 students in each class, and Deppa said it’s easy for students to start falling asleep if the content is not presented in an interesting way. She chooses to use Lolly as an example in her lectures instead of popular culture figures because pets are much more relatable to students.

‘One of the problems is someone who is in popular culture today isn’t going to be in popular culture tomorrow necessarily,’ she said. ‘The nice thing about Lolly is that she is kind of an unchanging model and doesn’t throw temper tantrums or demand high royalties.’

Plus, Deppa added, Lolly is very photogenic.

Paul Prescott and Zeus

During the winter months, Zeus can be spotted running through the Quad sporting a hand-knit blue argyle sweater. However, the Italian greyhound’s owner never wears his matching hat.

Paul Prescott brings his 5-year-old dog to school only on the last day of class before finals. In every other class, Zeus shows up in Prescott’s PowerPoints as a way to break up the monotony of lectures.

‘A lot of people tell stories about their girlfriends,’ said Prescott, a philosophy professor. ‘My girlfriend was less than pleased about being the subject of stories, so I started telling stories about my dog.’

Pretty soon, students in his PHI 293: ‘Ethics and the Media Professions’ class created a Facebook fan page for Zeus so they could show off Zeus Prescott.

Prescott maintains Zeus’ Facebook page and updates his status and profile picture often. Zeus currently has fans in every continent except Africa. Although most fans are students and other professors who have met Zeus at conferences, Prescott said Zeus has a small fan base in Eastern Europe of all people he doesn’t know.

Regardless of whether Prescott has become ‘the goofy ethics professor and his dog,’ he plans to continue referencing his dog in lectures.

‘I keep doing it because it seems like it works,’ he said.

Beverly Allen and Muddy

Before professor Beverly Allen brings her 7-year-old Jack Russell terrier to class, she makes it a point to check with her students first. Allen said students are sometimes afraid of dogs or come from cultures where dogs are considered food.

Allen, a professor of French, Italian and comparative literature, said most students who meet her dog have a ‘Muddy moment,’ where they run up to the terrier to pet him because he reminds them of their dogs back home.

Having a dog in the classroom affects students in a positive way, Allen said. Some students even come to Allen’s office hours just to see Muddy.

‘I bring him to all the classes I can because his presence is a real plus,’ Allen said. ‘It creates an atmosphere of relaxation and camaraderie even though he’s not a particularly entertaining dog.’

Muddy comes to Allen’s classes every Tuesday and Thursday. She said Muddy would come to class on Monday and Wednesday, but she does not want to interfere with the guide dog for the director of the honors program.

As long as Allen says a command in the same tone of voice as the English word, Muddy is multilingual, making him a favorite among other staff members who regularly give Muddy treats, Allen said.

‘Muddy speaks Italian, French and Chinese,’ Allen laughed. ‘Oh, and Spanish. She’s the perfect mascot for languages, literature and logistics.’

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Published on January 31, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Kristin: [email protected] | @kriskross22