I set out here to post about some of published results on the values of dog ownership and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but I was just a little bit; there is tons of research out there on the topic!  The benefits from dog ownership are far reaching, maybe you’ve heard about some of them, maybe all of them. I’ll provide a few references here of some of the things I’ve found poking around the web.  Then I’ll jump into some things that are more opinion and sorta common sense focused as opposed to research oriented that will likely strike closer to home than the research.

• In the article Pet ownership and human health: a brief review of evidence and issues, a group of psychiatrists and veterinarians perform some primary research on the relationship between pet ownership and human health.  I like this article because it doesn’t try to steer the data into a conclusion that dog-lovers will flock to embrace.  In fact, although they highlight the obvious (social and personal companionship benefits to pet ownership), they cite additional studies showing no significant evidence that dog ownership, for example, can help younger children with allergies which I’ve heard many times.  In fact, they site no real scientific evidence that pet ownership can increase physical health in any dimension!
• In the paper Investigation into the Value of Trained Glycaemia Alert Dogs to Clients with Type I Diabetes, you’ll find some pretty interesting stuff.  I’ll sum up the whole thing with just one quote from the paper though for those not interested in the details: “Since obtaining their dog, all seventeen clients studied reported positive effects including reduced paramedic call outs, decreased unconscious episodes and improved independence“.  Wow, its the same kind of thing really with service dogs in all areas.
• Here’s a good one, Dogs Can Discriminate Emotional Expressions of Human Faces that shouldn’t surprise dog owners but its always cool to see the research – yes dogs can totally read our emotions!
• I found multiple papers looking for physical activity level linkage between dog owners and non-dog owners and in general they all come up with the same conclusion – dog owners tend to be more physically active than non-dog owners primarily due to the need/desire to walk their dogs.  Here’s one those papers: Relationships among dog ownership and leisure-time walking in Western Canadian adults. And here’s another that included children in the study: Family Dog Ownership and Levels of Physical Activity in Childhood: Findings From the Child Heart and Health Study in England.

So now I’ll share a few of my thoughts on dog ownership benefits. Our family’s three current dogs are Bugsy (Rhodesian Ridgeback / Red Tick Coon Hound mix) and 2 Beagles, Edison and Channel all shown here (aren’t they cute!).  First and foremost for me and I think most people is unconditional love.  It doesn’t matter whether you’ve had a good day or a bad day, whether you’ve enjoyed recent success or failure, you can always count on your dog to be there smiling (tail wagging) and happy to see you.  For me it bring a sense of perspective. What’s really important in life? Well, ask your dog and if he/she could talk I think they’d probably explain Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to you, or at least the first three levels anyways 🙂

Someone once told me that without a single word their dog taught them the meaning of life.  You know what?  I totally get it. I’m not going to attempt to discuss the meaning of life in this post (or any other for that matter) but if you look at the classic tangential questions associated with the concept using optics from various disciplines you end up with a matrix that you can spend a lifetime pondering.  Try to put yourself in your dogs shoes (paws) though and then questions like “What is the significance of my life?” or “Why am i here?” become a little easier to answer even from various viewpoints such as psychology or sociology.  Maybe that’s the best way to look at it – our dogs allow us to cut through and simplify how we look at our lives in order to more readily appreciate what’s really important. Would love to hear some other ideas and/or stories from other dog lovers!