photo comes from http://www.makeitfit.org/autism-therapy-dogs/

Many people love dogs, and that is very understandable. Dogs are cute, furry, playful, and sweet. Dogs are often referred to as ‘A man’s best friend”. Many colleges bring in puppies during finals week to help the students get rid of some stress. Of course they’re adorable, but often playing with a dog can actually make a person feel better. Why is this?

As this article says, “Playing with or petting an animal can increase levels of the stress-reducing hormone oxytocin and decrease production of the stress hormone cortisol”. It talks about how these hormones help with children in schools feel more relaxed when doing things publicly in front of the class. It also mentions dogs helping patients with Alzheimer’s. This is interesting because it shows that dogs have a wide range of ways they can help different people.

Often people who are depressed or have anxiety tend to focus and worry about the future or on specific things. Often these people have a hard time feeling like they have a purpose as well. Dogs often can help with this. This site says, “Studies have shown that pets help people who are anxious or depressed focus on the present, because they have to pay attention to the care of their pet. Caring for another living creature improves their sense purpose and creates a feeling of being needed.” The article goes on to talk about the affection that pets show for their owners. This can make a person feel like they are lovable and wanted. The site specifically says, “A relationship with an animal requires a different method of communicating, and for people who are anxious or depressed, that is often a preferred way to interact. Pet owners use touch, eye contact and other nonverbal means to communicate with animals. A cat’s purr or a dog greeting them at the door is a form of affection pets can show to their owners that works wonders to comfort them”. This is very interesting to me, because I know that when I am upset and my dog comes and lays next to me it makes me feel better, and I have never really thought about the reason behind it.

If you look at a person who is depressed or has anxiety, they often do not seem to laugh or smile as much. Webster’s dictionary defines depression as a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way. Here it says that “In many cases, the dog gives the owner a sense of self-worth and identity that might otherwise be missing from life. Also, the gluttonous, lustful, comic behavior of dogs is not only entertaining but also allows the inhibited human master to experience release and humor.”

The matter of fact is that dogs may not be the exact cause of happiness. Diseases and illnesses often make it hard to pinpoint the causes, or what exactly helps in coping with them. This is because correlation does not equal causation, and there are often many 3rd variables that could be having an effect on the outcomes. In my opinion, dogs are very beneficial to humans, whether science has been able to prove it or not. A quote, that I absolutely love, from Josh Billings is, “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” This is something that again proves that dogs are beneficial to people with depression and anxiety. They shove love, and make people feel loved. Even if this is not the sole reason that owners of dogs with depression or anxiety are improving, there are no big negatives to owning a dog besides the time it takes up. This may not even be a negative for a person who struggles with depression and anxiety, because it would give them a reason to get up and do something, instead of just staying in bed.

This website is extremely helpful in helping understand the struggles of  measuring the effects of pets on people. As I said before, it talks about how it is hard to know 3rd variables, and if reverse causation could be present. It specifically says, “Most evidence on the benefits of having a pet comes from surveys of current health, but that means it is impossible to know if a person is in good health because she has a pet or if he is more likely to get a pet because he is in good health.”

I think if you have the time and you struggle with anxiety or depression it is definitely worth getting a dog. If you don’t have time, I think it is even worth going to play with dogs as a stress and anxiety reliever. This organization (video below) brings dogs to locations like schools, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and other locations similar to these. This is awesome, and the benefits it could have are definitely worth the time, in my opinion!