Wednesdays are for walking with Bean. The University’s campus resource dog and her handler, Matt Quinlan, a BU Police Department detective, have begun Wednesday Walkies, a weekly half-hour stroll for students along the Charles River Esplanade starting at noon on the BU Beach.
Wednesday Walkies is a partnership between FitRec and BUPD that began at the end of June with the goal of helping Bean reach her target weight while connecting with students. Since then, she’s hit her goal and has a clean bill of health. Now, the walks aim to bring students together for movement outside with the beloved resource dog.
“My hope is that people meet people, and Bean can be the source for that,” Quinlan says. He would like to see faculty joining the walks too, so that students can engage with professors in a less formal setting.
Walks are scheduled until the end of October and will end with a Halloween-themed stroll on October 28, complete with coordinating costumes for Bean and Quinlan. Maura Lee (CAS’24), a communications specialist with Campus Planning & Operations, says her team is working on extending the program into the cold-weather months too, so students can keep meeting up with Bean once the fall program ends.
Lee says they want to make Wednesday Walkies “as accessible as possible.” The walks are just over a mile long and last just about a half hour. They’re designed to give students a short break between classes. The meetup spot is at the outdoor workout equipment on the BU Beach.
Student attendance varies, Quinlan says. Sometimes 15 people show up; other times, only a handful. Yunuo Wang (CAS ’27) has accompanied Bean on nearly all the Wednesday Walkies. “It just makes me happy seeing her, and I think everyone needs this energy,” she says.
My hope is that people meet people, and Bean can be the source for that.
Bean’s #2
There’s something different about Bean this year: the guy holding the other end of her leash.
Quinlan says Bean has adjusted well to switching handlers after Officer Geo Chevere’s departure from BU last spring. Bean now lives in Weymouth with Quinlan, his wife Carrie, and their 14-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, Lily. But don’t worry—Quinlan still brings Bean on visits to see Officer Geo.
Now it’s Quinlan who is in the limelight as Bean’s handler. He has worked at BU for 28 years, serving as a patrol officer, detective, and Bean’s backup handler before moving into his current role. “I’m just the guy who holds the rope,” he says. Quinlan says 90 percent of Bean’s work is engagement on campus, and the other ten percent is responding to mental health crises, where she can be a source of comfort or distraction.
The two-and-a-half-year-old English cream golden retriever holds certifications that allow her to be on campus full-time and engage with students. She is trained as a comfort and therapy dog in programs with Golden Opportunities for Independence, an organization that breeds and trains English golden retrievers to become service animals.
Quinlan has also brought Bean to nursing homes and to meet his mother, who lives in a local memory care unit. “They might not remember Bean’s name, but they remember every dog they had,” he says.
Bean’s involvement in the Wednesday Walkies program is just another type of this kind of work—helping humans connect and relax. Wednesday Walkies is special, its organizers say, because it unites members of the sprawling BU campus through their shared love for dogs.
“It’s for people who miss their dogs,” Quinlan says, “and gives them a chance to walk Bean and meet other BU students.”
Wednesday Walkies
Join Bean, BU’s community resource dog, and other BU community members for a one mile walk on the Esplanade.
Date / Time: Wednesdays at noon through October 28.
Location: Meet at the outdoor equipment on the BU Beach.
