Benefits of having a dog

As a dog lover, we all must have always been inclined to believe that dogs do provide us with a load of benefits in our lives. But in reality aside from providing us with companionship and entertainment, dogs also provides us with countless physical and mental benefits, which we as a dog owner may not have been aware of even before.

The unexpected side benefits of having a dog which we may not have been hitherto aware of are:

Improves our mood

Although dogs over several centuries even in the past have been known to make great companions, but according to modern clinical researches it has been established that dogs can actually help in improving our mood. Researches shows that it only takes 20-30 minutes with your pet dog to feel more calm and relaxed, as playing with the dog helps in increasing the levels of serotonin and dopamine inside our brain, which are neurotransmitters those that are associated with our feelings such as pleasure and tranquility.

Get less sick

While our cleaning commercials are always ever busy in making us believe that we all are in midst of a war against germs, however in reality using too much of disinfectants reduces our natural immunity, which makes us an easy prey to several diseases. Having a dog at home creates “dog related bio-diversity’ and increase bacteria count which increases our resistance to diseases. So it has been found that people with dogs seem to fall ill less frequently than people who does not have them at their homes.

Helps in creating resistance to allergies

It has been observed that children those who grow up with dogs in their house, are less likely to develop allergies during the later years in their lives. It has also been seen that even if one was just a fetus when his or her mother stayed close to a dog at home before the childbirth, children of such women are less likely to get bothered by animal hairs and dander or develop eczemas as an adult.

Helps us to lead a more active social life

According to certain polls done in different parts of the globe, it has been seen that people in general trust other people who have dogs’ more than just individuals who walks alone on the street. People walking with a dog often finds more people interacting with them, so even if you live alone, rearing a dog has the same emotional benefits that befits human friendship.

Helps us to reach our fitness goals

According to the “Journal of Physical Activity and Health’ (2010), it has been seen that dog walkers in general walk an hour more everyday than their without-dog walking counterparts. It is really an unexpected benefit of owning a pet dog at home. Taking the dog out every day on a walk and playing around with the dog makes for good exercise.

Last but not the least, dogs also teaches us the golden principals of having patience and developing traits like selflessness and commitment. As pets like dogs can sometimes test the patience of even the most tolerant people, they can also make us understand our pet-owners responsibilities.

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