How to give a better speech to talk to a dog

Resource: the New York Times

Vocabulary:
1.gusto: n. enjoyment and enthusiasm in doing sth.
  --> Aerobic is tiring. But I always do it with gusto in that I can eat more.
  -->The students inflected their voices and gestured with gusto to regain their attention.
2. pairing: n. an arrangement or match resulting from forming people or things into pairs.
  --> The color of your eyes and your dyed hair are a good pairing. 
  --> The session was part of a pilot program pairing anxiety-prone business school students at American University with amiable, if unpredictable, dogs.
3. prone: a. ( prone to/to do sth) Likely or liable to suffer from, do, to experience sth unpleasant or regrettable.
  --> I'm prone to be bullied. But, now, I change my attitude when facing it. It's not the victim's mistakes. If I have weak point, I'll improve it, become a better person, and be friends with the positive persons.
 4. amiable: a. having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner.
  --> No matter how rude the people getting along with you is, you stay amiable because your behavior symbolize you.
5. elevate: v. raise or lift sth to a higher position.
 --> I elevated my backpack to shelf when taking train.
 -->Addressing a friendly and nonjudgmental canine can lower blood pressure, decrease stress and elevate mood — perfect for practicing your speech or team presentation.
6. hone: v. refine or perfect (sth) over a period of time
 -->I want to hone my french and English skills for studying in France.
 -->The audience dogs, as they are called, are a pet project of Bonnie Auslander, the director of the Kogod Center for Business Communications, which helps students hone their writing and speaking skills
7. pettable: a. suitable for petting 
  -->I met a pettable cat today. 
8. anecdotal: a. ( of an account) not necessarily true or liable, because based on personal accounts rather than the facts or research.
  --> Believing anecdotal speaking can be dangerous.
  --> evidence of the benefits is mostly anecdotal.
9. alleviate: v. make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe.
  --> Sometimes, explaining can't alleviate the misunderstanding between relationship.

Resume:
The audience dogs can help student to sharpen their writing and speaking skills because the nonjudgemental audience can lower blood pressure and ease the stress and encourage the speaker.  It's the pet project of Bonnie Auslander, the director of the Kogod Center for Business Communications. She decide to help student conquer their stage fright by dog in that some pettable dogs show up before the finals in some campus. Therefore, the center recruit 6 calm dogs though the benefits are anecdotal. A student said, the dog gives you a chance to step back from your presentation and also distracts you. 
There is the other way used for anxiety disorder at treatment center. It used virtual reality. By using a free app, VirtualSpeech, student can try this method at home.

Feedback:
I believe that everyone is less stressful when you give a speech in front of a dog. And you can practice again and again to perfect your speech and build your confidence. But a dog can't give you real advice for improve your speech and it can't help you predict the questions that the  audience may ask. When you see "people" audience, you may restart to feel nervous again. There is other way for conquering the anxiety disorder. It's a free virtual reality app, Virtualspeech.