Once Gypsy spots a friend on campus, nothing can stop her from saying hello.
“She sees somebody coming at a distance and she will sit and wait,” said Marilyn Weiner, Gypsy’s owner. “I can’t even get her to move, because if I pull her, she’ll slip her collar. She won’t go until that person greets her.”
Weiner, along with her husband Al, adopted Gypsy, a trained rescue dog, six years ago. They walk her every day, twice a day, on Binghamton University’s campus.
The couple has been married for 60 years and has lived in Vestal since Al received his master’s in English from Harpur College in 1986. Al is a former IBM communications specialist. Marilyn worked as an occupational therapy professor at the University of Iowa. She spends her time volunteering and helped turn the Events Center into a shelter during the 2006 and 2011 floods in Vestal.
Gypsy, a Labrador/Golden Retriever mix, isn’t the first pet the couple has walked at BU. According to Weiner, the two have been walking their dogs on campus since it was still Harpur College, before it became SUNY Binghamton in 1965.
“It’s a great place and we’ve watched it grow,” she said. “We attend all types of events, especially theater. We take a lot of advantage of the campus.”
As she began her daily campus walk on Saturday afternoon, Gypsy greeted every student with a nudge and a paw-shake. According to Weiner, the walks last about an hour and each have unique routes. Despite this, it’s never difficult for students to find Gypsy because she always finds them first.
“We’ve met students from all over the world,” Weiner said. “Some don’t even speak much English or dogs aren’t popular in their countries, but that doesn’t bother Gypsy. It’s sort of a universal love of dogs.”
Students said they believed that seeing Gypsy on campus was a great way to relieve stress and improve the day.
“During finals week they have therapy dogs, but Gypsy is a therapy dog every day,” said Sunny Paracha, a senior majoring in accounting, just as he took a selfie with Gypsy. “Every time I see Gypsy I have to stop and pet her because she lifts my mood up and all of the student’s moods up, too.”
For others, seeing Gypsy was a nostalgic reminder of their own pets.
“Doesn’t matter, male or female, they come over and say: I miss my dog,” Weiner said. “We hear that everyday.”
Emma Roseval, a senior majoring in human development, said she appreciated the sense of home Gypsy provided.
“Gypsy has brought another feeling of being at home to this campus,” Roseval said. “There is nothing better than seeing a dog wag its tail for you.”