Dogs not only benefit the mental health of humans, but also the physical health by lowering blood pressures, raising oxytocin levels, and using eye contact as a form of communication between the two species whether their just a pet or a therapy dog.
All modern dogs are believed to have descended from the Eurasian grey wolf, one subspecies that began interacting with humans between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. The wolves likely foraged around human campsites, gradually growing less inhibited. Once their potential as companions and workmates became apparent, they were domesticated and selectively bred. (“Prehistoric Relationships” 1)
Somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago, the wolf had evolved into an animal genetically indistinguishable
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"Oxytocin has powerful effects in the body's ability to be in a state of readiness to heal, and also to grow new cells, so it predisposes us to an environment in our own bodies where we can be healthier." (Johnson 3)
More than 2,300 reading education assistance dogs around the country are helping children to improve their literacy skills just by simply being present. Children who are uncomfortable reading out loud to people are able to practice with a nonjudgmental dog, and are more likely to practice words they do not recognize. In one study, children who read to dogs over the course of 10 weeks showed a 12 percent improvement in reading skills, while those who did not read to a dog showed no improvement. (Johnson 3)
Dogs can have a huge impact on the development of children, both physically and mentally. A 2012 report in the journal Pediatrics states that children who grow up in a home with a pet are less likely to get sick than children who live without pets (Johnson 3). Researchers believe that by exposing children to pet dander and other germs brought in from outside, children’s immune systems improve early in development. This early exposure helps immune systems fend off illness later on in
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"There have been some fun studies showing that, indeed, we respond to our dogs quite a bit like human children," MacLean said. "One of my favorite ones was a recent brain imaging study that looked at mothers who were being shown pictures either of their own child or somebody else's child and their own dog or somebody else's dog. What the researchers found in this study is that there were brain networks in mothers who responded very similarly when they saw pictures of their own child or their own dog but didn't have that response from looking at someone else's child or somebody else's dog." (Casey 3)
MacLean said he felt the Japanese study reinforces the idea that the human-dog relationship is like a parent-child relationship and could help explain the genetical means that are associated with the use of dogs in therapy to help everything from autism to post traumatic stress. "If it turns out there are benefits of administering oxytocin for some of these disabilities, using assistance dogs may actually be a fairly natural way to stimulate the system," MacLean said. "There may be some sort of medicinal properties of our interaction with dogs that we could use." (Casey
Our old pals, even going back to Canis lupus, the gray wolf (the original ancestor of most modern dogs), have human-like qualities. Wolves are clever hunters and gatherers, especially the gray wolf. No speci...
First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans, by Katherine Rogers, articulates the history of the relationship between dogs and humans. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, investigates if and how dogs exhibit morality. In both texts, anecdotes and observations are used to portray instances of dogs displaying cooperation, empathy, altruism, and, by extension, morality. Consequently, it stands to reason that dogs have a capacity for sociality, but how can the sociality of dogs be described? A dog’s capacity for sociality is the ability to form long term relationships with members of the same or other species. Dogs, in particular, dogs who hunt as well as dogs who play, are able to form long term relationships with humans and other dogs through trust, love,
The dog is a unique beast. Loyal and affectionate, if somewhat bizarrely built, today’s dogs are a far cry from the wild wolves from which they emerged. Whether fluffy, naked, cock-eyed, or bow-legged, each dog is an ample prototype of its kind. The very idea that such a cooperative creature could spring forth from such a ruthless predator is astounding by itself. The fact that the multitude of breeds (340, according to the World Canine Organization (Melina, 2014)) could starburst forth from a single point begs investigation. How, indeed, did it come to be that there are so many different breeds of dog?
Dieter Freya, Peter Fischer “Man's Best Friend: How the Presence of a Dog Reduces Mental
There are many theories’ that dog got evolved by the grey wolf but current resources say that dogs. The PLoS (is an open access peer-reviewed academic journal published monthly by PLOS Genetics) say that dogs may have not evolved by the grey wolf or least not the grey wolfs that we have living up in our northern forest. One possibility is there may have been other wolf lineages that these dogs diverged from that, then went extinct. But there
The video “Dogs and More Dogs” presents one of the most perplexing questions in evolutionary biology: how did the diversity of dogs evolve from a relatively homogeneous population of wolves. Anthropological data suggests that dogs came into existence some fifteen thousand years ago. In terms of the history of earth and the majority of the organisms that inhibit it, dogs are still very young. It is thus very remarkable that one species (wolves), which must have looked somewhat alike, could have given rise to the huge differences we see between the Chihuahua and the Golden Retriever.
In 1961, Dr. Boris Levinson, a child psychologist, became the “accidental” pioneer for animal therapy. One day he left his dog, Jingles, alone with one of his young, uncommunicative patients. When Dr. Levinson came back, the child was smiling and talking to the dog (Altschiller 3). This just shows how quick and monumental the effect of an animal can be. He believed that therapy animals provided, “unconditional acceptance and love” and they offered “a secure and warm environment for children and other patients, increasing their ability to adapt better psychologically to other people”...
The grey wolf has been transformed into what we, today, call a dog. After years of traveling with humans, the wolf began to change and became adapted and tame enough to socialize with humans. The environment it was placed into was one of the causes for change, and another was the role it played for humans.
Almost all the families that own dogs treat them like a part of the family. In the story How the Dog Became Part of the Family, it stated "According to a 2015 survey by the Harris Poll, ninety six percent of owners consider their dogs to be a part of the family." Since the dogs get special treatment from their owners they will do things for them, like encroachment foxes, clean out rats from somewhere, hunt ducks, and also even pull sleds on snowy days. Dogs can be malign gard dogs for people that treat them like kinfolks. The dogs and humans can have a very special bond. "When a dog and a human gaze in each others eye a chemical is released that causes the dog and human to feel adjacent." For example, in the story How the Dog Became Part of the Family, it states that, "The Harris Poll found that 38 percent of U.S. dog owners cook special meals for their dogs," Another thing is walking a dog a lot can improve people's health and can cause less accentuation. Less accentuation causes a better day and it is helpful to kids with autism. When dos get walked it makes you and the dog feel
The scientific paper “Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds” presents the theory that an oxytocin-mediated positive loop that is mediated by gaze exists between humans and dogs, and was coevolved in both species in order to facilitate human-dog bonding. It tests that theory via the performance of two experiments; in the first experiment, they examined whether a dog’s gazing behavior had any effect on the urinary oxytocin concentrations in dogs and their owners during a 30 minute interaction, and also examined hand raised wolves and their trainers in order to test whether any findings were due to possible coevolution, or if it was due to early life experiences with humans. The results of that experiment showed that dogs and humans in the long gaze group showed a significant increase in urinary oxytocin levels and the largest change ratio with oxytocin while the wolves and their handlers showed no increase for either group.
In the field of therapy, there are numerous of therapy available out there for different type of individuals and situations as well. There is one type of therapy that usually contains people and animal, it is animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic approach that brings animals and individuals with physical and/or emotional needs together to perform the therapy. Animal-assisted therapy tend to be focused on individuals either children or elderly for them to be able to connect with the animal thus feeling comfortable talking with the therapist. Pet therapy works for all ages, whether sick or not (Lanchnit, 2011). Although, this paper, most of the focus is on animal-assisted therapy towards children using dogs.
The transition to the diet of the original dog as a result of beginning the relationship with humans could be attributed to the changes identified between the modern dog and original dog (wolf). The canids remain recovered in yet cave, in Belgium where Upper Paleolithic artifacts were discovered along with other object are considered to be domesticated dogs. The domestication of dog could have been driven by human need for help with herding, hunting, and early warning while the dog benefited from companionship and reliable source of food
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions...
Owning a pet can have many physical and mental health benefits. Medical studies show having a pet result's in lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets have a role in cardiovascular health from lowering blood pressure, and they encourage psychosocial stability in owners, which further reduces the risk of heart disease. In the hectic and fast-paced world we live in today, pets are actually saving our lives. Pets provide an excuse to be active, dogs live an active lifestyle, wanting to play and run around outside. By making us more active and improving our health, dogs often provide a good workout! Instead of sitting on the couch being lazy, dogs are eager to transfer their energy and enthusiasm to the owner benefiting both dog and owner in many ways. Studies show that dogs demonstrate trust and provide comfort to the sick or elderly thus helping people to live longer and to be more positive as they age. Animal owners over 75 years of age have f...
Pets are all over the world, and a part of many people's everyday lives. After seeing my grandmas dog close to death about a week ago, it reminded me of how impacted I was when I lost a pet in the past. That’s when I realized that pets leave a very impactful mark on other people's lives. Then, I remembered not everyone has had pets in their lives due to various reasons like allergies and seeing them as dangerous. This led me to my research question; Should kids have pets in their lives? Weighing the options, I can see both sides to the question at hand. I was a child who grew up with pets by my side, but I also had been greatly harmed by one. When I was just a preschooler, I was critically bit by my own dog in the face, just inches away from a fatal vein in my neck. I still have the scar to this day, yet I still surround myself with animals everyday.