There are many benefits to raising dogs

The role of dogs is not as simple as just being pets; the benefits they bring invisibly are not easily noticed. For example, dogs can reduce our feelings of loneliness and also promote communication between people. Google allows employees to bring dogs to the office, which is actually intentional, because dogs can not only improve interpersonal relationships but also increase cooperation rates.

Dogs can promote physical and mental health. A Canadian study found that elderly people with animal companions visit the doctor 20% less per year on average compared to those without pets, and their average annual hospital stay is half that of elderly people without pets. A survey in the UK showed that children who have pets have more stable levels of secretory immunoglobulin A in their bodies. A research report published in the American Heart Association academic journal stated that owning a dog may especially help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, possibly due to dog walking and exercise. In a Swedish survey of dog owners, 57% believed their beloved dogs brought them new friends; 63% thought their dogs increased their opportunities to talk with others. It seems dogs act like a social catalyst, not only providing warm companionship but also enhancing and promoting their owners' social interactions.

There is a very special experimental program in some primary schools in the UK called Read to Dogs, where dogs become the audience for children’s reading aloud sessions. To overcome children's fear of speaking and performing in front of many people, as well as speech disorders such as stuttering, children practice reading aloud in front of dogs first. In front of animals, children often read easily without psychological burden, and their actual performances tend to be better. This is the application of animal therapy. Animals are excellent psychological doctors, often able to dissolve fears invisibly. In Taiwan, many psychiatric care facilities also frequently use animal therapy to stabilize patients' emotions, achieving good results.

Dogs can help with social interaction

Dogs are very sensitive to crying. Even when seeing strangers cry, they will approach and look. Although this emotional response does not necessarily mean an understanding of human suffering, sad people surely find comfort in their eyes full of compassion. Another explanation is that we are actually very similar to dogs. We tend to love things that resemble ourselves, whether human or animal.

Scientists sequenced the genome of a female Boxer dog and found that out of 19,300 dog genes, at least 18,473 are identical to recognized human genes; this similarity is higher than that between humans and mice, dogs and mice, or humans and cats. Moreover, many dog breeds are also prone to the same genetic diseases as humans, such as cancer, heart disease, deafness, blindness, and more than 360 inherited immune neurological diseases. Possibly because of this, we are more likely to transfer emotions onto dogs.

Besides the impact on personal physical and mental health, curious psychologists have also verified the relationship between the presence of dogs and interpersonal trust. Researchers at Central Michigan University discovered that having a dog in the office makes people cooperate more efficiently. They gathered twelve groups of four people each, asking each group to design a 15-second advertisement for a cosmetic product, requiring each member to contribute ideas. Some groups had a small dog wandering at their feet throughout the process, while others did not. Afterward, all volunteers answered questions about their sense of cooperation with group members. The results were surprising: members of the "dog" groups rated their teammates higher in trust, team cohesion, and closeness than those in groups without dogs.

These conclusions come from real situations, showing that raising dogs indeed has many benefits. They not only regulate the atmosphere but also subtly change their owners' mindset, making them better at social interaction.