Our Dogs
Meet Jill and Finn
The average domestic pet can provide us with many therapeutic benefits. Pets can ease loneliness, reduce stress, promote social interaction, encourage exercise and playfulness, and provide us with unconditional love and affection.
One of the reasons for these therapeutic effects is that most pets fulfill the basic human need to touch. Even hardened criminals in prison have shown long-term changes in their behavior after interacting with pets, many of them experiencing mutual affection for the first time. Stroking, holding, cuddling, or otherwise touching a loving animal can rapidly calm and soothe us when we’re stressed. The companionship of a pet can also ease loneliness, and our pets are a great stimulus for healthy exercise, which can substantially boost mood.
People learn responsibility, compassion, and empathy from having pets. Pets are never critical and don’t give orders. They are always loving and their mere presence at home can help provide a sense of security. Having an ever-present dog can help ease separation anxiety from being away from the support of family.
Benefits
Adopting healthy lifestyle changes can play an important role in easing symptoms of addiction, depression, stress, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and anxiety. Caring for a pet can help with those healthy lifestyle changes by:
- Increasing exercise. Exercise doesn’t have to involve boring repetition at a gym. Taking a dog for a walk is a fun way to fit healthy daily exercise into your schedule
- Providing companionship. Isolation and loneliness can make disorders such as depression even worse. Caring for a living animal can help make you feel needed and wanted, and take the focus away from your problems
- Reducing anxiety. The companionship of a dog can offer comfort, help ease anxiety, and build self-confidence for people anxious about going out into the world
- Adding structure and routine to your day. Dogs require a regular feeding and exercise schedule. No matter the mood—depressed, anxious, or stressed—one must feed, exercise, and care for the dog
- Providing sensory stress relief. Touch and movement are two healthy ways to quickly manage stress
- Helping you find meaning and joy in life. Caring for a pet can bring pleasure and help boost your morale and optimism. Taking care of an animal can also provide a sense of self-worth
- Boosting vitality. You can overcome many of the physical challenges associated with addiction by taking good care of yourself. Pets encourage playfulness, laughter, and exercise, which can help boost your immune system and increase your energy
