Dogs Bring Happiness and Health
I wonder if we can get life insurance companies to give us dog-lovers a break on those health insurance premiums? Heck, they’re always raising home insurance premiums for having dogs it only seems fair we should get a break on health and life insurance with this news from The Daily Telegraph!
Dogs may hold secret to long life
DOGS may be the secret to health and happiness because they encouraged their owners to walk them daily whatever their mood or circumstances, British researchers said today.
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth found that dog owners felt obliged to walk their dogs despite bad weather or low moods, keeping them fit and making them feel better once they were out.
The 65 dog owners interviewed for the study said dogs brought them into contact with the owners of other dogs and bolstered their social lives, said Sarah Knight, a doctoral student in psychology at the university.
“The aim of the project was to look at attitudes to the management of dog-walking, but what we found was that people really wanted to tell us about the many benefits of walking their dogs,” Ms Knight said.
Ms Knight said that many participants in the study were retired people, including those who had been widowed or otherwise lived alone, or were recovering from illness or operations.
She said that they discussed occasions when they had felt lonely, isolated or depressed, and reported that their dogs helped them stay physically fitter and helped maintain social contacts.
Younger participants discussed how dog-walking involved them more with their families because it is an activity adults and children could share.
