When you counted your blessings on Thanksgiving, did you include the creatures that settled under the table or wound themselves around your legs? Are you thankful for your own companion animals and all the service animals that make our lives safer, healthier, and more fulfilling?
Pets Are Good for You
Study after study confirms that having companion animals is good for your health. Certainly city dwellers with dogs seem more likely to enjoy the fitness benefits of daily exercise.
The National Institutes of Health has funded studies that showed people who walked their dogs “… were more physically active and less likely to be obese than those who didn’t own or walk a dog.” For individuals age 71-82, “Those who regularly walked their dogs walked faster and for longer time periods each week than others who didn’t walk regularly. Older dog walkers also had greater mobility inside their homes than others in the study.”
Heart Health
Stroking a cat or dog has been shown to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and increase a feeling of calm. The American Heart Association issued a scientific statement about pet ownership and cardiac risk this year.
They reported that, “Owning pets is associated with reducing your risk of heart disease, and there are a variety of reasons that may be at work that influence this relationship. It may be that healthier people are more likely to be pet owners or that people with dogs tend to exercise more. Pets also play a role in providing social support to their owners, which is an important factor in helping you stick with a new habit or adopting a new healthy behavior.”
Mental Health
Other researchers are looking at the benefits of pets or exposure to therapy dogs for disorders like depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder.
Caring for an animal keeps people active and can help prevent someone from becoming withdrawn. From companionship to silly antics that make you laugh, a dog or cat can be a mood booster.
Dodie is a real service dog in training.
Therapy and Service Dogs
Don’t be surprised if you find a dog at a medical appointment in your future. Dogs have an amazing sense of smell – 1,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than ours. Medical detection dogs are now used to alert doctors to human conditions from hypoglycemia in diabetics to skin, bladder, and ovarian cancer.
Some of these canines work with professionals in medical research settings, others are trained to alert their person to spikes and drops in blood sugar levels in diabetes, or to protect and try to get help for someone with a seizure disorder.
You’ll also see service dogs who act as guides and helpers for people who are blind, deaf, confined to a wheelchair, or unsteady on their feet. And there are emotional support dogs who help a person stay calm in stressful situations.
These geese wrangler dogs work in the Public Garden.
Working Dogs
Beyond animals that serve as companions, there are hundreds of working dogs that deserve our thanks. They help law enforcement officers track criminals, locate drugs, guns, contraband, and bombs. They work protecting livestock on farms and offering comfort to victims in courtrooms and in the aftermath of a crime or disaster.
Yes, these same creatures can be a source of stress when they misbehave or are ailing themselves. However, overall, scientists are showing that we should be giving thanks for our dogs, cats, and other furry and feathered critters when we count our blessings.
Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.
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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino
(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our City Paws newspaper columns.)
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