Each year, we celebrate the International Day of the Dog and National Dog Day on August 26th. However, one day is not nearly enough to show our appreciation for the uniquely mutually beneficial relationship we have with our dogs.
Evidence indicates that this relationship began to develop as early as approximately fifteen thousand years ago. In fact, a recent anthropology study now suggests that affinity with dogs may have helped early human beings to flourish while Neandertals were becoming extinct in the same habitat. While working dogs continue to play a vital role in agriculture, law enforcement, medicine, and so on, dogs have also worked their ways into our hearts and our households. No longer relegated to a doghouse in the backyard, dogs have graduated from being called Fido and Rags to human names such as Max and Luna, this year’s most popular names for male and female dogs, respectively.
Although adopting a dog may seem to be a selfless act, research indicates that owning a pet, or just spending time with one, has a large number of positive health and wellness benefits.
Our relationships with our dogs are primarily nonverbal. Dogs use all five senses to communicate with us. Research indicates that a dog is acutely aware of its owner’s emotional state. They recognize emotional human vocal cues and expressions and use that information to evaluate the person’s intentions and motivations and distinguish between positive and negative emotions.
People who spend time with dogs have a higher level of well being.
Pet ownership is beneficial for people of all ages. This was the conclusion of an informal survey of approximately twelve thousand people conducted in 2021 by the Tracking Happiness website, in which the majority of the people surveyed were between 35 and 45 years of age. Another study found that older adults also benefit from pet ownership because it gives their lives a sense of purpose and meaning, reduces loneliness, and increases socialization – in summary, it makes them more resilient.
- A 2011 study found that pet owners have higher levels of well being than non-pet owners. They have higher self-esteem, and are more extraverted (sociable, talkative, and assertive), less lonely, less fearful, and more physically fit. While dogs fulfill important social needs of their owners, this does not replace their relationships with other humans. In fact, pet owners report having closer, more supportive relationships with humans than their non-pet-owning counterparts, which suggests that pet ownership complements other sources of social support.
- Dogs are comforting and nonjudgmental. Taking care of a dog builds self-esteem and offers reassurance that you can care for another creature as well as yourself.
- Pet owners are less likely to suffer from depression. The simple act of petting a dog, whether or not it is your dog, releases the “feel good” chemicals, dopamine and serotonin, which improves mood and wards off depression. Although this was replicated in studies to some extent by petting a stuffed animal, petting or interacting with a real dog activates the prefrontal cortex in your brain, which is responsible for regulating social and emotional interactions.
Author Dean Koontz remarked on this in his book, False Memory (1999): “Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.”
- Interacting with a dog, even on a short-term basis, improves cognition and learning by reducing stress and increasing perceived happiness. This is why many colleges and universities offer their students interactions with therapy dogs, especially at high stress times such as final exams week. Studies indicate that petting a dog for just ten to fifteen minutes lowers your levels of cortisol, the “stress” hormone.
- According to the National Institutes of Health, while people have to learn mindfulness, dogs are present all the time. They sit there, are loving, and focus their attention on the person they are with. One study found that dogs help children with ADHD learn how to focus, while another study found that pets are a calming influence on children with autism spectrum disorder.
- Dogs help people psychologically cope with a crisis. Studies show that service dogs help military veterans with PTSD both psychologically and physically.
French poet, journalist, and novelist Anatole France (1844-1924) understood the beneficial effect of dogs on our mental health: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Dog owners and their families are healthier.
- Dog owners who walk their dogs are more physically active and less likely to be obese than other pet owners or non-pet owners. This is true regardless of age, sex, or socioeconomic levels. Studies indicate that companion animals such as dogs may strengthen their owner’s engagement in weight loss programs by providing encouragement and motivation and reducing perceived barriers (such as concerns about neighborhood safety) that may hamper exercise. In fact, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), dog owners are 34 percent more likely to fit in 150 minutes of walking per week than non-dog owners, the amount of moderate exercise per week recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American College of Sports Medicine.
- Studies indicate that this is also true for children. According to the CDC, children who have a pet dog at home are also less likely to suffer from anxiety.
English philosopher Bernard Williams (1929-2003) understood how beautiful the relationship between children and pet dogs can be. He wrote, “No symphony orchestra ever played music like a two-year-old girl laughing with a puppy.”
- According to the AHA, dog owners live longer than non-dog owners. Pet ownership (primarily dogs and cats) has many beneficial and significant cardiovascular health effects, such as lower baseline resting heart rates and blood pressure, more favorable cholesterol levels, reduced reactions to stress and faster recovery after stress ended, and improved survival after a heart attack or stroke, especially if the person lives alone.
- As stated earlier, dogs are an important source of social support. According to the AHA, better social support improves cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune function.
Comedian Gilda Radner expressed her admiration for dogs in her book, It’s Always Something (2002) when she wrote, “I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.”
Spending time with a dog promotes healthy aging.
Research from the University of St. Andrews indicates that dog owners over the age of 65 act ten years younger than their biological age!
- Pet owners who are elderly and/or chronically ill fare better than their non-dog owning counterparts. This is especially true for dog owners.
- Pets provide companionship, give a sense of meaning and purpose, reduce loneliness and perceived social isolation, and increase socialization. This may increase resilience in older adults against mental illness, as well as improve outcomes in serious medical conditions such as heart failure.
In an article memorializing the passing of her beloved dog, Molly, author Anne Raver referred to a passage from Milan Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) when she wrote, “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring — it was peace.”[i]
Dog owners are happier and have better relationships with other humans.
- Pets and pet ownership are associated with happiness – and dog owners, and even those who simply love dogs, are some of the happiest people, second only to horse owners, according to the Tracking Happiness survey. An academic study performed in 2016 that also examined the relationship between pet ownership and wellbeing generally supported Tracking Happiness’ findings. It showed that pet owners are more satisfied with their lives than their non-pet-owning counterparts, although there is no significant difference between the personalities of pet owners and non-pet owners. This is especially true for dog owners as well as non-pet owners who identified themselves as “dog people”, although to a lesser extent.
Dog owners may have an easier time meeting new people.
Author John Steinbeck (1902-1968) knew this to be true. “A dog is a bond between strangers” he wrote in his book, Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962),
- Dogs facilitate social interaction between humans. Studies indicate that pet owners are more likely to get to know other people in their neighborhood than non-pet owners. This is especially true for dog owners when they meet the person through the pet, such as when they are walking their dog.
- In fact, studies indicate that being a dog owner makes you appear more attractive to other people, especially when the interaction is nonverbal. Studies also show that people appear more likeable in photographs when they are accompanied by a dog because they appear happier, more relaxed, and safer. This effect is especially true for pictures of women.
Dogs make wonderful, loving companions.
“My sunshine doesn’t come from the skies. It comes from the love that’s in my dogs eyes.” (Anonymous)
Dog owners will tell you that gazing into the eyes of their furry companion, and having them gaze back, is one of the most endearing aspects of the relationship.
- This is not difficult to understand when you consider the results of a widely-publicized 2015 study which found that when dogs and their owners gaze into each other’s eyes, both benefit from a significant increase in oxytocin levels – up to 150 percent for male and female dogs, and up to 300 percent for male and female humans! This is the same hormonal response that humans have when they gaze into the eyes of human infants.
- If you think you see tears of joy in your dog’s eyes when you return home, you’re correct! A Japanese study published last year found that a dog’s eyes well up with tears when they are experiencing positive emotions, such as when they are reunited with their owners.
- The same is true about winking. Dogs wink at their owners, which may show affection, be an attention-seeking device or a signal of submission or may indicate that the dog is at peace. The dog may also be mirroring its owner’s expression.
Of course, all these wonderful benefits must be available to our beloved canine companions as well. We will only flourish from owning and spending time with dogs if we ensure that our dogs also flourish, living long, healthy, happy lives.
If you would like to flourish, but are not ready to be a dog owner, or are not in a position to provide for a dog at this time, you can still enjoy the benefits that interacting with a dog brings. Reach out to a dog owner (and their dog) by visiting with them. Offer to walk a neighbor’s dog or dog-sit for a friend. Contract out your services as a dog walker. If you are not ready to commit to offering a dog a loving “forever” home, you can experience the joys of dog ownership by volunteering to be a foster parent for a local dog rescue organization.
Written by: Marti Klein, NBC-HWC
About the author: Marti is a board-certified health and wellness coach and the owner of Flourish! Health and Wellness Coaching in Dana Point, California, offering telehealth coaching. Connect with her at FlourishHWC.com. She received her training at Emory University. She is dedicated to helping people enhance their health and wellness on both an individual and community basis, and has a special interest in lipedema, a chronic loose connective tissue disorder affecting an estimated ten percent of all women. She is also the co-owner of Klein + Klein, a corporate communications consulting firm.
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[1] New York Times, April 28, 1994