As many Greek-affiliated sophomore students move out of College residence halls and into their respective Greek organizations, some are taking advantage of the newfound opportunity to welcome new and furry members into their homes. The presence of dogs in Greek houses is common throughout the year, but Summer term has seen an onslaught of new puppies cropping up across campus.
Argus, the 13-week old yellow lab, who officially belongs to Taylor Holt '09, is the newest member of Psi Upsilon fraternity.
Raising a dog during the summer serves as a bonding experience for the class, Holt said.
"The last few years [Psi U] has gotten a dog at the beginning of the summer so we can raise it as a class as everyone's in the house," he said.
A summer puppy is also a tradition at Alpha Delta fraternity. AD's summer addition, an Alaskan Malamute named Boone, is collectively owned by all of the brothers, though Matt Alkaitis '09 is primarily responsible for his care.
"The sophomore class traditionally gets a new puppy each summer," Alkaitis said. "It's the most important thing we do."
Dan Killeen '09, is the owner of Fitz, a chocolate lab who resides with him at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
Fitz's name, short for Fitzgerald, is part of an SAE tradition in naming dogs.
"Irish names are a tradition in the house," Killeen said. "We've had Sampson and Whiskey, and so Fitz fit the mold."
Holt was free to name Argus whatever he chose, but he wanted a name that had significance to the members of Psi U.
"We can name the dogs anything we want, but I stuck with a traditional Psi U name," he said. "It also has literary significance, since Argus is Odysseus' dog."
The hardest parts about raising a dog in a fraternity, Killeen said, are the division of responsibilities as well as the training of the dog.
"It's difficult to train a dog with 18 different people trying to tell him what to do and everyone having different schedules," Killeen said.
Despite all of the brothers' enthusiasm, however, Killeen has found that he takes the brunt of responsibility for Fitz.
"One of the main issues is that everyone likes to have the dog, but when it comes to putting work into the dog, it's more difficult to recruit help," he said. "The house pays for the dogs bills, but the sole responsibility lies with me."
Argus is supported financially by Psi U and all of the brothers help to take care of him, but having a puppy has still been a major time commitment, Holt said.
"The first few weeks, I really learned what it would be like to be studying with a child, because he required constant attention," he said. "I couldn't stay up until 2 a.m. because Argus would wake me up at 4 to go out."
According to Alkaitis, Boone has also been a lot of work.
"[Taking care of a puppy] involves a lot of feeding and early wake-ups," he said. "Teaching him to skateboard, though, has probably been the most difficult part so far."
The responsibilities associated with raising a puppy have proved too much for at least one fraternity.
The brothers of Theta Delta Chi fraternity spent the first few weeks of the summer with a yellow lab named Cooper, who officially belongs to Alex Lentz '07, but he became too much of a hassle with the three other dogs inhabiting the house, so he was eventually returned to his owner, according to Sander Duncan '09.
Despite the prevalence of beer in Dartmouth fraternities, none of the fraternity dogs are permitted to consume alcohol, nor are they allowed into the basement.
While puppies populate a number of co-ed, fraternity and sorority houses, other houses find themselves prohibited from welcoming such furry companions into their places of residence. All college-owned facilities, including Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, Chi Heorot fraternity, Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, Delta Delta Delta sorority, Sigma Delta sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority, are not allowed to own dogs for a number of reasons, Deborah Carney, director of CFS administration, said.
"Dogs that are not well behaved cause problems such as eating furniture, defecating on floors... and biting folks who need to enter the building," she said.
