Laid-back ‘spokesdog’ on TV

Kyla Horn, a neuroscience student, makes a point of visiting Finn the Therapy Dog in the medical library when he holds court on Friday afternoons.

“He helps me take a breather from everyday stress and just live in the moment for a while,” says Horn.

Horn is not alone in appreciating a few minutes with the gentle 3-year-old mix. Horn’s visit in early September came a few days before Finn appeared on The Today Show on Sept. 9 in a segment about the Canine Cognition Center at Yale. The segment showed Finn and two other dogs taking tests to determine whether they trust their owners and can distinguish between “good” and “bad” puppets.

Finn’s owner, Krista Knudson, M.S.N., a nurse practitioner in a doctoral program at the School of Nursing, enrolled Finn in the center’s research project a few months ago. “His temperament lent itself to being the one that got showcased,” Knudson said.