Can Dogs Affect Our Health?

The other day, I was looking at my dog Dakota, and I started wondering how she affected mine and my family’s health.  I knew that by having a dog or a pet in the house could affect babies’ immune system by keeping the babies exposed to foreign bacteria. But I didn’t know how dogs could affect other family members. So I did some research.

While investigating, I found out that cuddling with a dog and having them around significantly reduces your blood pressure and people who have been interviewed have said that they have been a lot more relaxed and calm since they’ve gotten a dog. I even found that just meeting your dog’s eyes from across the room automatically help us cope with stress.  I found that playing with your dog can also reduce stress and let you let out that inner child inside of you. While you play with your dog, it focuses your attention on that one thing so you aren’t worrying about something that makes you stressful. Walking your dog can even benefit you in many ways. First it gives you one-on-one time with your dog so they can get to know you more. Last, it gives you and your dog the opportunity to get the exercise that you both need.

Continuing my research, I discovered that people who have a pet are less likely to suffer from depression than those without pets. Also, heart attack patients are more likely to survive longer if they have some kind of pet living with them. Having a dog can also affect your lifestyle. By taking the dog out for a walk, you are getting exercise while you are keeping your dog healthy and fit. While walking your dog, he most likely stops and sniffs another dog every once in a while. This helps you meet new people. For people with children who have disabilities, dogs help regulate the child’s stress levels and help them develop better motor skills if they play with the do

Having a pet can offer physical, social, emotional, and cognitive help. Dogs require exercise and love. This helps they owner’s physical activity. When a child sees another person with a dog, they are automatically interested and they want to pet the dog. This helps the child’s social skills. Have you ever noticed that when you are sad, your pet somehow knows? Because the pet knows this, they cuddle and lick the person who is sad. This makes the person happier and affects their emotional skills. The word cognitive is the mental process of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning. Having a pet helps this because a child might become attracted to a specific breed of animal or dog. This helps them memorize what the dog looks like and what it’s called.

There are also psychological benefits of having a dog. There is evidence that having a dog gives a person a sense of well-being and reduces loneliness. Pets obviously influence a person’s life differently than a person would influence another person’s life. Dogs have unconditional love and a human tends to get attached to an animal more than they should. Dogs often become very helpful when a person is sad or grieving. They are able to give and receive affection more than any other human or animal.

I know that if I didn’t have Dakota, I would be sad all the time. While I was doing this research, I found that all of it was true. My dog never gets sad or mad unless she gets in trouble. If I didn’t do this research I would have never known what a huge influence my dog is in my life.

If you have a pet, does it affect how you behave? If so, explain.

Do you think that your pet has affected you as you’ve grown up?  Why?

Could you ever get a bad feeling from a dog?

5 thoughts on “Can Dogs Affect Our Health?

  1. I love dogs and seeing my dog always makes me happy. I agree with you and think dogs have a effect on human health. I have two dogs and would do anything for them even if they get on my nerves. Dogs are always there for you no matter what and always can cheer you up. I agree that they don’t just help mentally but also physically. Having a tog is a big responsibility and you have to walk it, feed it, take it out to the bathroom, and take care of it. Dogs also can have a bad affect though. If you are allergic and don’t know about it till you buy a dog. You will feel miserable not feeling well. That is really the only down side to having dogs. They may look mean but in the inside when they get to know you they are the sweetest. Dogs can never mistreat you unless you give them a reason. For information I found I went to: http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/health-benefits-of-pets

  2. I also have a dog, and I really do think that she helps me cope with stress. studies show that if you have a pet, or specifically a dog, you would be less likely to get angry or frustrated. studies also show that if you have a heart attack, you are prone to living a year longer, than without a pet. I thought this article was really interesting.

    http://animalsmart.org/species/dogs/dogs-help-reduce-stress

  3. I have 2 dogs of my own and they are pretty good dogs. I have had them pretty much my whole life. They haven’t affected my life in a bad way that I know of. They might get annoying when they bark, but that doesn’t make you mad forever. Dogs are fun to play with and are nice to have with you, but I am not sure how they would make my health worse. Dogs are good for all ages. Dogs help babies have a less likely chance of having allergies. For elders, dogs provide a companionship for them and could provide some exercise if they walk them. Having dogs could really improve your health and that’s why they are good to have around.

    I found this information on this article: http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/health-benefits-of-pets

  4. I don’t think dogs can affect our health. I think they do very good things for our health. One thing they do is teach us responsibility because you would have to care for another living thing besides yourself. I had an older dog. We had her from before I was born to when I was 14. We had to put her down. That is one of the saddest thing about owning a dog is knowing they don’t live very long and someday they will be gone. when we got a new dog it brought so much joy to my family and I. I think having a dog while growing up does affect you. I agree that you have better emotional skills and I think your more compassionate. Dogs have helped soldiers cope after coming back from war. They help the disabled and become there best friend and someone to talk to. They have increased the odds of survival after having heart attack. They have become part of therapy for nursing homes. Lastly I do think you can get a bad feeling from a dog. They will tell you when they want to be left alone or showing dominance about you because your there human. All around I think dogs are good thing for our health.
    http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=1201

  5. Personally, I think that having a dog has multiple benefits. First, it’s somebody to be with when you don’t have anybody else. Second, a dog needs to be walked so you are not only providing the dog care, but also getting yourself into better shape. I also think that a dog provides comfort when somebody is sad even by just being there. I think it would be helpful for people who can’t have children or are mourning a loss because it provides you with someone to care for and to love. I myself don’t have a dog but I think it would be nice to have someone who is always positive and doesn’t put you in a bad mood in my life. There are some downsides to having pets when dealing with traveling or work, but I think that most of the affects dogs have on people are positive. I found on the website below a good way to describe how dogs make you feel and how they positively affect people.
    http://www.funpawcare.com/2012/05/08/the-power-of-a-dog-or-cat-to-change-your-mood/

Leave a Reply to paigefspring14 Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *