Dogs are Simply the Best Stress Busters

Dogs are Simply the Best Stress Busters

by Lynn Stacy-Smith

I’ve been super stressed out lately. I cannot tell you why because I honestly cannot pinpoint exactly why I feel this way, whether it’s the never ending political commentary on the news and on social media (and no giraffe cam to which we can escape) or the fact that the end of the school year is always crazy as a parent or whether I am simply overwhelmed with all of the various goals that I have set for myself. I can tell you that it is severely affecting my ability to blog and work on new books and projects and I am trying desperately to shift my energy back to being positive.

Last night I was talking about this with my husband and he said, “Well, maybe you should write a blog about not being able to write a blog!” I told him that I guessed that wouldn’t be the worst idea, only it would be more appropriate if my audience was fellow bloggers and not other dog owners.

Then I realized that not every post has to be educational or fabulous. If you are following me it is because first and foremost you are a dog lover. And at the end of the day, it is our love for our dogs that makes us seek out knowledge and information about how to care for our dogs in the best way possible. And who better to understand how much comfort our dogs are in times of stress than other dog lovers?

So today I am simply celebrating the fabulous creature that is the dog!

Every now and then I am asked, “Lynn, what is your favorite thing about dogs?” That question is extremely hard to answer without simply saying, “Everything!”

As I write about in my book, Love, Laugh, Woof, dogs have been integral to my life since I was five years old. I just had a birthday in March, which means that for the last forty one years of my life, dogs have been as important to me as air, water, food. I don’t know if I have a “favorite” thing about dogs or if dogs are just simply a part of my soul, my energy. The love of dogs is now as much a part of me as much as my hair color, my height.

In fact I like to tell the story of an allergy test that I had a few years ago in which the sample of  “dog allergen” was first scratched and later injected into my skin in a second test. It seems that I’ve lived so closely with dogs that they are literally part of me. Not only did those test spots not swell or itch, they did not even turn red like all of the other allergens that they tested.

So when stressful times come, the dogs are my biggest source of comfort. In fact I cannot fathom the amount of money the dogs I’ve loved throughout my life have saved me by being my furry therapists. They are truly the answer to all of life’s emotional woes.

Sad? Snuggle with the dogs.

Frustrated? Take the dogs on a walk to clear your head.

Bored? Play with the dogs.

Stressed? Pet the dogs.

Confused? Talk to the dogs.

Tearful? Let the dogs lick away the tears.

A 2016 study confirmed what we dog lovers have understood for a long time: dogs can understand our emotions. When you add in the notion that dogs want to please us, along with the extremely important fact that they cannot speak English (part of their appeal), it is easy to see why our dogs become our most trusted confidants.

Then there is the science behind what is going on in our own bodies. In 2008/2009 researchers concluded that more of the hormone oxytocin is released when we pet our dogs. According to Psychology Today, “Oxytocin is the hormone that underlies trust. It is also an antidote to depressive feelings.”

While I am a writer, not a doctor, when I put all of this information together it just proves the point that dogs are simply the best stress busters that we have in our lives! Not that we needed scientific proof versus decades of personal experience. All our dogs need to do is just be their normal canine selves and they help us lead better, happier lives, whether it’s laying their head on you when they detect that you are sad or trotting along silently next to you on a walk in a mind meld that melts away all of the stress of your day.