University of Exeter launches dog-walking project

The University of Exeter has launched a project that sees students walk dogs for people who are unable to walk their dog themselves. 

Students can volunteer in pairs and choose when, how often, and which size of dog they would like to walk.

Professor Edward Watkins, a professor in experimental and applied clinical psychology, told the BBC: “We know that loneliness and isolation is often a problem for students and building student wellbeing is really important and one of the key things to do that is to build up connections and community initiatives and this sounds like a really good example of that.” 

The university says it has had more than 100 student volunteers come forward, but only five dog owners have joined so far.