Did you know that owning a dog can help to reduce stress.  Ideas-4-pets spend time and having talked and listened to their customers we have found that owning a dog can actually improve your mood, help to control your blood pressure, encourage you take more exercise, enable you to meet people and prevent loneliness.

Those of us who love animals will most likely agree that it’s very hard to stay in a bad mood when your dog looks at you in that appealing way or reaches out to you for some attention.  However angry you were feeling before you dog approached you, it all seems to evaporate when that unconditional love oozes from your dog to you.

It is a fact that certain drugs reduce blood pressure, but they aren’t as effective in controlling the sharp rises in blood pressure brought on by stress and tension.  A study was done on groups of hypertensive New York stockbrokers recently and it appears that those who were dog owners were found to have lower blood pressure and heart rates than those who weren’t.  When the latter group heard the results, most of them went on to purchase a dog!

We all know that most dogs love to go for a walk whether they need it or not and we humans are far more likely to enjoy a walk when we have companionship.  So dog owners tend to walk more than those people who don’t own a dog.  This is likely due to the fact that they have to exercise their dog or because they just like spending extra time with their pet.  Because exercise is good for stress management and overall health, owning a dog can certainly be credited with increasing these benefits.

When you’re out walking, having a dog with you tends to make other prople approach you to either talk to your dog, stroke him or talk about dogs in general, so it increases the number of people we meet and gives us an opportunity to increase our network of friends and acquaintances.  Again, this also has great stress management benefits.

Dogs are there for you in many ways that people can’t be.  They offer you love and companionship and they don’t talk, so you both can also enjoy comfortable silences.  They love to snuggle up against you on the sofa or just gaze at you from their own dog bed and they are the best antidote to loneliness because they make us feel loved and wanted.  In fact, surveys have shown that residents in nursing homes reported less loneliness when they were visited by dogs than when they spent time with other people!  All these benefits can reduce the amount of stress people experience in response to feelings of social isolation and lack of social support from people.

We are all aware that talking about your problems with a good friend can halve the problem but recent research shows that spending time with your dog may be even better! When doing a stressful task, people actually experienced less stress when their dogs were with them than when a supportive friend or member of the family was present!  This could be because our dog’s don’t judge us – they just love us the way we are – warts and all !!

However, dogs do bring with them additional work, responsibility and expense, which can sometimes be stressful in itself.  For instance, they require regular walking (whether you feel up to it or not), they need somewhere to sleep so a dog bed is essential.  If you go out to work you might want to consider a dog kennel or a dog run so that your dog gets time out in the fresh air.

A new puppy needs training so requires a collar, lead, dog cage, etc. and not to forget a good quality, healthy diet.

Despite all this, for most people, the benefits of owning a dog greatly outweigh the expense and responsibility involved. Having a doggy best friend really can reduce stress in your life and bring you lots of love and support when times get tough.