Animal-assisted therapy is a special kind of help where animals, like dogs and horses, are used to make people feel better. This therapy can help people who feel sad, lonely, or have certain problems because of bad experiences or illnesses. The animals are there to help people be happier, make friends, and feel less alone. This kind of therapy can happen in different places like hospitals and homes for older people. People have found out that animals can make us feel good inside and make our lives better. When animals are around, we can learn more easily and feel excited to do things. Animals can bring a lot of joy and help people in many ways.

At Oregon State University, there is a special animal called Benny Beaver. Benny Beaver is very important to the school. People voted Benny to be the best mascot in 2011. We are not sure when the school first started using this mascot, but there are pictures of it from the 1940s. A long time ago, beavers were very important in Oregon. People liked to wear clothes made from beaver fur. In the late 1700s, lots of people wanted beaver furs, especially for fancy hats. When people first came to Oregon, there were many beavers there. This helped Oregon grow and it got the nickname "The Beaver State." Now, the beaver is even on the state flag. The beaver became the school mascot after it was used by the school newspaper in 1908 and in the yearbook since 1916. The students liked the beaver so much that it became the official mascot. Even students from another university in Oregon used the beaver for their yearbook. In a 1942 yearbook, there is a photo of students with a statue of a beaver called "Benny Beaver." Before Benny Beaver, the school had a different mascot called "Doc" Bell. But now, Benny Beaver is the one that everyone at Oregon State University knows and loves.

Therapy dogs are special dogs that help people feel better. They give love and support to people in places like hospitals, schools, and places after a big disaster. They are different from assistance dogs, which are trained to help one person with their needs every day. Therapy dogs are trained to be friendly and kind to lots of different people, not only to the person who takes care of them. A long time ago, people started to see that dogs can help people feel less worried and get better faster. In the late 1800s, a lady named Florence Nightingale found that small animals made kids and grown-ups in hospitals feel happier. Later, a famous doctor named Sigmund Freud used his dog to help his patients feel more comfortable talking to him. In 1976, a nurse named Elaine Smith started the first group of therapy dogs because she saw that dogs made patients in hospitals happy. Another group started in 1986 when some organizations came together to help more people with dogs. Brian Hare from Duke University studies how dogs think. He says that dogs and people have been friends for a very, very long time. Dogs like meeting new people and are not afraid of strangers. This makes them great therapy animals because they make people feel loved and safe. When someone is feeling sad, they might find it easier to be with a dog than to talk to another person. Dogs are great for helping people who need some extra love.