Who are we, but mere beans in a beautiful dog world?

This is something I find myself saying multiple times in a day, and honestly something I’ve been known for. I am now the dog lady. I have accepted the full-on aesthetic, however, it isn’t just as simple as loving every four-legged best friend I see (and I do love all of them), but there are so many other blessings we should count in their regard.

Before our four legged friends adopted the moniker of “man’s best friend” or as I like to call them “my best friend”, they were undomesticated animals. That’s right; your adorable little cockapoo was once a predator of the wild that solely lived off of the hunt. Ok not exactly like that, but it’s said that the species and genome sequencing happened at the same time, thus separating the dog, the gray wolf, and the Taymyr wolf and allowing evolution to bring them to where they are now. Basically, a long timeline of genetics and understanding of the animal kingdom is why you constantly see dog food commercials compare your little pup to wolves. Even though dating the genetics and finding the true origin of the domestic dog is hard to find, research has been provided that indicate that dogs are as old as the hunter-gatherer period, predating the agricultural phase.

Of course the purpose of dogs held a completely different importance than currently, but knowing the history is important for understanding how dogs work in society now. Through time, the domestication levels of the dogs naturally increased, leading people to be able to genetically breed dogs to be certain sizes or have physical characteristics. All of this allowed society to run with the whole “real dogs vs. lap dogs” talk, but honestly, dogs are dogs and we love them all. Not just because they’re soft, warm, and full of undying love, but because throughout history dogs have immensely helped humans better their lives. In fact dogs, along with other domesticated, farm, and marine animals, aid in the betterment of humans’ emotional, social, and/or cognitive functioning.

In fact, dogs play a major part in therapy now, specifically referred to as Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) which utilizes the inherent calming tendencies of animals. The concept of AAT comes from American biologist Edward O. Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis. Wilson states that a human’s tendency to rely on or naturally associate to nature or living-forms has a genetic reasoning. Wilson goes into depth about how the instinctive reactions of a human to the surrounding nature automatically show biophilic or phobic tendencies. The reaction can be explained by a potential vulnerability or mutualistic relationship with that aspect of nature. So that happiness a person feels, excluding people with fears stemming from childhood memories of getting bitten or hurt, when they look at the beautiful loving face of an animal, can stem from a dependent relationship that humans once held with that species. All of this is science jargon to tell you that a human’s inherent happiness when seeing any type of animal, in this case, dogs, comes from a long ago time when humans’ safety depended on a dog’s reaction to nature. So we learned to feel safe or feel love when we witness the glory that is a dog.

Well, some people took this research, observed and understood that release of endorphins humans feel, and created AAT, where animals are brought in to see and be around patients in order to help the body release endorphins. By doing so, patients are able to feel calmer or trust their doctors more. In fact, UCLA published their entire research and found that just a 12-minute visit to a doctor with a therapy dog present helped “heart and lung function by lowering pressures, diminishing release of harmful hormones and decreasing anxiety among hospitalized heart failure patients” and not just within heart failure patients. As their name suggests, therapy dogs, and other therapy animals are brought in to all types of medical aid centers to help patients who might otherwise be wary. Just petting a dog would cause drops in anxiety for the patients as opposed to those who didn’t receive therapy dogs. AAT comes in handy with children with autism or mental/physical disabilities who have an easier time calming down with animals than with adults. The practice has become so widely accepted by the public and by professionals that some hospitals have their own teams of therapy animals. There are even volunteer services and organizations, such as The Good Dog Foundation, that bring together animal trainers and their therapy pets in order to collaborate with hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and many other places.

Which brings me to my first point, what are we but mere beans in a beautiful dog world? These wonderful gifts from the heavens not only shower us with undying love and protection but help us calm down. Calm down in such a manner that helps humankind’s health, whether short term or long term. So the next time you’re looking into a dog’s eyes and see pure happiness, say thank you.

To all dogs: Thank you for blessing a mere being such as me, with your loving presence.