Paws & Breathe

Paws & Breathe is coming to the Haughville Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library on Friday, November 6, from 4 PM to 5 PM. The whole thing is built around one guest: Andre, a licensed Paws & Breathe therapy dog. The session is aimed at tweens, teens, and adults, and the idea is simple—you get a quiet hour of relaxation in the library's Community Room with a therapy dog to hang out with. If you've had a long week and just need a low-stakes way to wind down, this is exactly that.

It's also a good chance to spend some time in the Haughville Branch itself. It's the longest continuously operating branch in the Indianapolis Public Library system, and its history is a bit of a tour through the city. It opened on the east side in 1896 and moved to the Haughville village after 1897. Along the way, it's had a few different homes: it spent time in the former town hall on Georgia Avenue, which was partially destroyed by a fire in 1904, and later in a storefront in the Michigan Plaza Shopping Center that served the neighborhood until 2003. The current 12,000-square-foot library on West Michigan Street has been its home since then.

So, if you're in the neighborhood and could use an hour to just sit and breathe, you'll find Andre and the rest of the session in the Community Room on Friday, November 6, from 4 PM to 5 PM.