A close family friend recently suggested having a dog after she lost her husband. She is an animal lover already, but after her husband passed away she just felt that her house was too lonely. A recent study from the University Of Montreal in Canada has also found that having a pet can greatly help children with Autism. Thinking more broadly, dogs and cats can help people who suffer from stress and the resulting anger.
The reasons for this are many and vary for each and every one of us. Some reasons include: – A LOVING COMPANION: Everybody needs to feel loved sometimes and dogs and cats (and many other pets) can offer this. They can listen to our secrets, offer friendship and are pleased to see us when we arrive home.
– ALLOW US TO WALK MORE: This is more the case with dogs than other pets. Taking our pet dog for walks is not only good exercise for them but also for us – with the added benefit that exercise can allow us to feel happier and less stressed as well as being very good exercise.
– LOWER OUR BLOOD PRESSURE: It may sound ridiculous but stroking soft fur on our pet can actually help reduce our blood pressure if we are feeling stressed and angered. Watching goldfish is another tried and tested method of reducing anger – hence fish tanks and larger aquariums are placed in hospitals and medical waiting rooms.
– CAN TAKE OUR MIND AWAY FROM STRESSFUL SITUATIONS: Playing with our pets and lavishing attention on them can help us to forget about what has actually stressed and angered us in the first place. Of course this is not an answer to solving problems but can help us to forget about those milder worries. We may have had a particularly bad day but as soon as we walk through the door and see our pet, this anger simply disappears.
While giving this advice, two words of warning are necessary here. Firstly, there are some problems in our lives that will simply not go away no-matter how much we try and take our mind off them – and while having a pet may help in the short-term, the best solution is to face the problem and try to solve it.
Secondly and most importantly, a dog or any other pet is a long-term commitment and the decision to have any pet should not be taken lightly. Pets cost a great deal of our personal time, energy and money. They should not simply be bought on impulse or simply to serve our needs. There are already far too many dogs, cats and other animals abandoned or given to rescue centres because people cannot physically look after them or cannot be bothered to.
If you do however feel that you could benefit from having a pet and feel ready to take on that a long-term commitment, then having an animal companion could be a great help reducing stress and anger.