Healthy as a Hound

Dogs are really, really great. At the end of a hard day of whatever you might do, a dog will never ask anything of you that is difficult to do assuming you haven’t lost both hands in some terrible accident. A dog won’t ask you to mow the lawn or pick your clothes up off the floor. On top of all the great things about dogs (and to a much lesser degree cats and other pets), they also just happen to be great for your physical and mental health – here’s why:Dogs relieve stress. Having a source of infinite and unconditional affection can be fantastic and soothing in our day to day lives. No matter how irate your boss may be or demanding your professors; at the end of the day your dog will still wag his tail and kick his leg whenever you scratch in that perfect spot. In fact, recent studies have indicated that people may be calmed by their pets even more than by a close friend or loved one. It is theorized that this is because your pets won’t judge you, no matter how crazy you really are.Sublime wrote a song called “I Love My Dog.” Sublime rocks.Science says dogs are better for high blood pressure than drugs. Another study amongst hypertensive New York stock brokers showed that while normal prescription medications do lower blood pressure, patients who owned dogs or cats suffered significantly less than their drugged up counterparts. In addition to this, the study indicated that pets are a superior substitute to drugs because you do not have to swallow them with a glass of water, nor experience the several hundred horrifying side effects of commercial medications.Dogs will get people talking. You know the old cliché. Man buys puppy, man walks puppy, woman fawns over puppy, something happens and then man and woman are having dinner together. While a dog may not be the best way to pick up chicks, there are much worse ways to strike up a conversation than with the assistance of your furry companion (or scaly, or feathery, or whatever). Any conversation that begins with, “Aww!” has started with a positive outlook that, “Uh, can I get you a beer?” never could.Dogs will make you stand up. You see, as a living thing, pets need to do “things” and unless you absolutely hate your roommate, you should really put down the Mountain Dew and take them out to do those “things” from time to time. On top of that, dogs seem to dig running around and barking and picking things up and if you have a dog, chances are you’ll enjoy doing those things with it. It’s much easier to run with someone who wants to run with you, even if they do bark occasionally and let their tongues hang out.Pets will make you happy people. Temporarily, anyway. Even if you don’t just love to have your face licked by your dog or have whatever it is that cats do (scratch your face, probably) done to you, the jubilant spirit of a good pet is contagious. Dogs even look like they’re smiling, how could you be unhappy around that? You couldn’t – that’s how.So there you have it; six excellent reasons to own a pet or at the very least give a friend’s pet some extra attention. The next time you see someone walking their dog around campus, strike up a conversation and give the pooch a kiss on the nose. I’m sure he’ll be happy to return the favor.