8-year-old Earns a Ph.D

An eight-year-old has received a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine on Friday. Yes, you read it right! 

And he is a Labrador retriever, working as a therapy dog at Virginia Tech’s Cook Counseling Center since 2014, helping students cope with anxiety, trauma and other mental health issues. 

If you must know, Moose (right) assisted in more than 7,500 counseling sessions. Trent Davis, the coordinator of animal-assisted therapy and a counselor at the center explained that therapy dogs chiefly aid in sessions by providing extra comfort and a sense of security. 

And so, his years of service are being celebrated with an honorary degree from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, which is operated by Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland at College Park in Maryland, USA.

I guess you could say that Moose is in the same illustrious company as former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad who's a prolific collecter of honorary doctorates himself. 

FYI, his most recent ones were awarded by the Asia School of Business, a collaboration between Bank Negara Malaysia and MIT Sloan School of Management (April 2019), International University of Japan (August 2019) and Qatar University (December 2019). 

Congratulations, Moose! BTW, he’s not the only dog to have received an honorary degree; there has been others too!