Delilah, a trained therapy dog, has been stealing the hearts and minds of students at what is now known to many as “Delilah’s Spot” in Wolf Plaza. In light of addressing mental health and stress on campus, Delilah’s owner has been routinely bringing her to campus to shower students with love.
Delilah is a three-year-old Dogo Argentino adopted by NC State alum Chris D’Arco from a local rescue in 2019, when she was a few months old. D’Arco said Delilah was surrendered due to her deafness, which is common in dogs with white skin pigmentation.
Dogo Argentinos fall under the category of mastiffs and were first bred from the now-extinct Cordoba Fighting dog along with Great Danes and Boxers in the 1920s. The breed was created for the purposes of dog fighting and hunting pumas and wild boar in Argentina.
D’Arco said Delilah’s breed is banned in multiple countries and New York City due to the aggressive stigma associated with the breed.
“Any dog is just a matter of how you train them,” D’Arco said. “She will kill you with kisses.”
Delilah was trained through Sit Means Sit, a local dog training agency that also trained the Durham Bulls’ bat dog and NC State’s tee-fetcher, Ripken. Michael O’Donnell, the owner of the agency, advised D’Arco to train Delilah to be a therapy dog because of her sweet temperament and tolerance.
D’Arco said Delilah’s deafness resulted in him adopting unique practices to train her, including American Sign Language, which he said made him a better dog trainer.
“She doesn’t know she’s deaf,” D’Arco said. “It just takes a little longer training [and she] actually made me a better trainer. People use the word ‘no’ very often when training a dog and it’s not something that should be [used], because it’s constantly used wrong and they get confused. So not being able to say ‘no’ to her makes a difference.”
D’Arco said Delilah’s deafness allows her to provide therapeutic services in louder environments than most dogs would be comfortable with, such as Wolf Plaza, where she has no issue with the constant smacking of skateboards on brick. During her training, Delilah was required to pass tests in multiple environments, including a mall, a nursing home and a firehouse, all of which she passed with flying colors.
D’Arco was first inspired to take Delilah to campus after speaking to his college-age daughter about stress during finals. After working things through with Prevention Services, D’Arco and Delilah have been on campus since last semester. As a college graduate, D’Arco said he can relate to the stress students feel and hopes Delilah’s services can help.
“I remember [when] I came from New York to go to NC State back in the ‘80s and you miss your animals — sometimes people miss their animals more than miss their family,” D’Arco said. “It’s a stressful thing, and seeing a dog is fantastic. We went out to the library last semester, just walking around and having people taking breaks and they just got so excited for it. But with everything that’s happening, I just felt like it was a little more important to get out here as much as we can, so people can take advantage and see her and love her and her to love them.”
Rebecca Maher, a licensed social worker in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said it is proven that therapy animals can greatly improve the quality of one’s mental health. Maher cited a Duke University study that demonstrated pediatric patients in contact with therapy dogs before heart scans were calmer and, in turn, had more stable and clearer scans than patients who had not been in contact with the dogs.
Maher said therapy animals can create a state similar to mindfulness practices.
“They make us be in the present, which is a really important thing,” Maher said. “If one is prone to anxiety or overwhelmed, and you start thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, how am I going to do X, Y or Z?’ When they’re out with Delilah, they’re probably just thinking ‘I’m here outside, she feels lovely, she’s got a great face.’ All of that [thinking] really is sort of reminiscent of mindfulness practices.”
Sophie Mueller, a first-year studying psychology who had met Delilah before, said seeing Delilah and other dogs on campus helps fill the gap left by not being able to see her dogs back home.
“It makes me so happy to see dogs on campus, because my dogs are like my best friends and leaving them is the worst part about going to school,” Mueller said. “They are just happy and they’ve got no stress in their lives, really, so they can just take on a little bit of that for you.”
D’Arco said many students catch Delilah at every chance they get.
“The smile on their faces — some of them come running to her,” D’Arco said. “I have girls that come back four, five, six, seven times to come see her. [Some] every time we’ve been out here.”
D’Arco said the reactions and engagement with students have been invaluable to him and he hopes to continue bringing Delilah to campus.
“When people talk about destiny, I really think me getting with her and having the ability to do this just worked — it was meant to be,” D’Arco said.
D’Arco said students convinced him to create an Instagram account for Delilah. Pictures of her with students, in addition to times and locations where she can be found on campus are posted regularly.