We all know about the marvels of Assistance Dogs (and other domestic animals) in helping people with physical or mental problems to dramatically improve their lives.
Whether they’re wheelchair-bound, suffering from PTSD, epilepsy, deafness, autism - they all get solid improvements.
But you don’t have to “need” an Assistance Dog to benefit enormously!
I’ve been looking at an interesting study (see Resources below), which found, in brief, that if you had an animal to care for, you would improve in these key areas:
👉 Less anxiety
👉 Lower blood pressure
👉 Better quality of life
👉 Lower cortisol levels (that’s the fight or flight hormone)
👉 Lower adrenaline levels (another fight or flighter)
👉 Lower heart rate
👉 Fewer doctor visits
👉 Better school attendance
👉 More empathy, less aggression
👉 Better social interaction
👉 Faster recovery from stressors, especially when the pet was present
👉 More smiles!
That’s quite a list, don’t you think? Which ones have you found?
So now, what about your dog?
Fair’s fair, so let’s see how we can help our dogs.
In the second study - linked below in Resources - relaxing, alert, and stress behaviours were measured after the various activities they tested. You can see the tables for yourself, but the key takeaway for me is that PLAY activities outscored FOOD activities in every area.
This means you can’t chuck your dog a bone and let him get on with it. Well, you can, and he’ll be happy with that.
But how much happier he’ll be if you can PLAY with him!
The particular play methods they tested were dog-dog play, dog-object play (like agility obstacles, puppy gym, things you can set up at home) and tug play with their owner.
We can’t all ensure dog-dog play. But we can certainly do plenty of adventure playground type play, and endless tug! (Yannick would like tug play to be endless, that I can assure you!)
Here are three of my dogs: 3-month-old Yannick, Coco Poodle, and (deaf) Lacy, keen to take turns with their favourite game.
And here’s another thing that’s been debunked. They used to tell us that coffee was bad for us. Now they’re saying that it’s really very, very good for us! So you may have no qualms if, in appreciation of what I give you freely, you choose to buy me a coffee. 😊 ☕️
Want to know more about how to teach your dog to play, and get the results you want? Watch our free workshop which might just change everything about how you see life with your pup!