Dogs Help Our Health

Posted by Cathy Bruce, CPDT

After a terrible and restless night of trying to sleep and my analyzing thoughts about a work situation keeping me awake, I rolled over in bed to stroke my two senior dogs lying curled up beside me. Part of what had kept me awake was my blood pressure was up and I realized as I stroked my resting dogs that it had a significant calming effect on me. One of my dogs has been with us for 12 years and remained quietly resting as I stroked her side and the other dog is 10 years old. As I stroked my 10 year old dog she immediately rolled over for the obligatory belly rub….her absolute most favorite thing in the whole world. I had to smile.

I started thinking about that tactile behavior we humans do in stroking our dogs. I think for the most part we do it because it makes us feel good. I know in that moment I started to feel better and it felt like my blood pressure started to go down. There are some really neat research studies being done these days about the effects of the human and animal bond. I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Dr. Rebecca Johnson from the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) in Columbia, MO last month (http://rechai.missouri.edu/). They are currently working on some very exciting research studies that analyze the positive effects that animals have on a human’s health. Those effects are even wider reaching than just making us feel good. The actual measurable health effects and benefits are amazing. Among some of the many positive health benefits of owning a dog are lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lower stress and lower depression. For me, this makes me appreciate the animals that I have even more.
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