How dogs affect Us socially Physologically and Physically (my EPQ)


How do dogs affect us socially, physically and psychologically?



Disclaimer before you read this, I wrote this in 2016 back when I was a school, I still believe in the idea of this research, however I am sure that now there will be many more research on this topic so if you would like to read further into this please do further your reading, I recommend vet times, the vet record, and any research papers you can get your hand on if you are lucky enough to have Medline or Web of Science.


I have been looking into how our dogs can affect and help us in our day to day lives. They affect us in many ways they can make us feel happy, accepted and understood, due to a chemical and hormonal effect on our brains, they can keep us in shape, and they can help with therapy. Not only this they can help people in need like guide dogs, hearing dogs, seizure dogs and many more. Dogs can also help in social situations.  These points have been investigated by scientists and psychologists around the world. However to experiment with how we are affected by the Human Animal Interaction, many precautions must be taken to create a fair, just and solid, reliable set of results. I'm going to be looking into how dogs can have these effects on people and how these effects can be justified and claimed as scientifically proven and how some of these effects are just claimed but not proven.



There are many problems that can occur when trying to investigate who our pets specifically our dog affect us, many factors have to be taken into account to make the results of the investigation liable for scientific use.  When carrying out a human animal interaction investigation (HAI) there are many factors that need to be considered this is called multi factual. During investigations for the Human Animal Interactions, the owners who love their dogs very much will try to tell the researchers how much their dogs help them; this can lead to bias results.(1). When dealing with how children are affected by animals it is very hard to gain solid research because of the many different things that can be linked with children and the parent will try to interpret the child and they may do it wrong or write down false evidence, meaning that the data would be unreliable. So therefore to produce a research paper for HAI that is accepted by scientific boards is very hard, and though many investigations are done only a handful are picked to be certified.



Our dogs can have many effects on us and the children that the encounter. It has long been thought that animals can help our children develop, and many experiments have been carried out under close regulations to meet the scientific guidelines to see the proof of this claim. These tests include a test done by Dolgin & Behrend in 1984 (2) which asked 5 year old children if a stuffed dog that looked like a real dog and acted like one if it could turn into a real dog, the majority of the children said no and insisted that this dog couldn’t turn into a real dog. This confirms the fact that animals help our children to perceptually develop, because the understanding that a life like dog can’t turn into a real dog requires understanding of life. Another experiment done by Kidd & Kidd 1987(3) showed that toddlers and infants responded by smiling or making a noise more frequently towards a pet dog or cat than a battery “life-like” toy. A similar study by LoBue et al 2013(4) found that young children aged 11-40 months would prefer to look at an animal behind a glass screen (even if asleep) rather than play with a toy.  This shows that even from a young age children acknowledge living animals and are more intent with them allowing the children to learn from and start to understand pets such as dogs. Other studies have shown that kids with a pet have a greater biological understanding than those without pets for example; Do dogs have a heart?   The children with pets answered yes however the children without had more, no, (wrong) answers than those with pets (5). The children with pets also showed a greater understanding into the consequences of overfeeding this shows a firm sign of cognitive development. Furthermore studies have shown that pets can help children’s social-emotional development, for example nearly half of 69 Scottish 9-12 year olds said that their most important relationship is with their pet (Kosonen 1996)(6). One of the troubles of investigating the child-pet emotional bond is that many factors have to be taken into account for example geology, family life, and many more to combat this Parker &Asher in 1993 proposed (7). Can the child-pet relationship be compared to a peer relationship? To do this they would have to see if the peer observations matched the child-pet observations i.e. Conflict/resolution, conflict/betrayal, companionship/recreation, help/guidance, validation/caring. With exception to conflict dimensions all these have been seen with the child pet bond (7). This allows us to see that children do socially and emotionally develop with the aid of pets. Children can also develop morally with the help of dogs a recent study (Melson, Kahn, Beck, Friedman, Roberts et al. 2009) of 7-15 year olds were interviewed about the moral claims and proper treatment of an unfamiliar but friendly dog which they had spent a brief time playing with(8). The children expressed strong emotions on condemnation of acts of omission (seeking treatment for the dogs hurt leg) or commission (destroying the dog if no longer wanted).Analysis of these judgements showed that children were arguing for the inherent moral claims of the animal. One child, in an outraged tone, asked; “what if you hurt your leg?”(8) Not only do pets such as dogs help children to develop they can also provide children with a much needed play mate, for example it has been found that a child with ADHD is suited to a large playful dog that can match the child’s energy levels(9). One body of evidence shows the stress-reducing effect of have a friendly animal (usually dog) present. This can be seen by a lowering a HR and seeing the physical state of the child like a smile and the muscle tension of the child (10). Many tests have been done to prove that dogs help children, who are undergoing stressful conditions; (Katcher, Friedman, Beck, & Lynon, 1997) found that in the presence of a friendly unfamiliar dog while reading aloud moderates the expected increase in blood pressure (11 pg 169?). And a study of school children waiting for dental surgery showed less physiologic arousal when waiting with a friendly but unfamiliar dog (Havener et al. 2001)(12). Finally a study of 7-8 year olds in the UK identified their pets more frequently than humans as providing comfort (McNicolas & Collis 2001)(13). Child obesity is becoming a larger problem in western cultures; obesity can lead to a higher CVD risk and a higher risk to contract type 2 diabetes (14). Owning a dog increases the amount of physical activity children take part in, for example playing or walking the dog, this can have a significant effect on levels of activity in children which is important because when a study was carried out in Australia by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aging in 2008 found that only 38% of boys and 25% of girls met the recommended amount of daily physical activity suggested by the government (15). Dogs can help with this problem by encouraging playful behaviour and walking. All of these investigations give us a small insight into how dogs help and allow our children to develop and grow up with an understanding of animals and a bond with dogs that promises unconditional love.



There are many health and physical benefits to owning a dog and many studies have shown that people who own a dog are more physically healthy than those who don’t own a dog; this can be seen by resting heart rate, weight and blood pressure. A study done by the American Heart Association has linked the ownership of a domestic pet, especially a dog, with a reduced risk of heart disease and better longevity (16). Not only this, studies have found that people who own dogs have a lower blood pressure in stressful circumstances(17), one study even found that people with borderline hypertension when they adopted a dog from a shelter showed greatly declined blood pressure within 5 months(18). Heart attack patients who own a dog are found to live longer than those without dogs.
All pets
No pets
No-dog pets
total
Living
50 (94%)
24 (72%)
10 (100%)
78 (85%)
Dead
3 (6%)
11 (28%)
0 (0%)
14 (15%)
Total
53
39
10
92




Dr Alan Beck. PAWSitive InterAction Summit, May 2002.
One year survival rate after a heart attack was found to be 94% among pet owners (50 out of 53 owners were alive one year after a heart attack). Among those who did not own pets only 72% survived. This effect was also seen among pet owners who had pets other than dogs. (19)
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Dr Edward Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic, had a cancer patient who was very ill but determined to make it home to see ‘Max’. “I thought he was talking about this son, Max, or Maxine, his wife, it turns out he was talking about his dog, Max. We can no longer ignore the medical significance on the bond people have with their pets. There is a rock-solid, indisputable mind-body connection that is vectored by our pets. Out pets create a balance between our minds and our bodies” (20) this just shows how strong the bond between humans are their dogs is, it can allow us to become physically better though this mental bond. Dogs unlike cats can also help us adopt a healthy active lifestyle, because dog owners feel the need to walk their dogs every day just through moral decency. Many studies have found that dog owner are much more likely to go for a walk even if the weather is horrid compared to those who don’t own dogs, and that dog owners are more likely to meet the daily exercise requirement (21). One year-long study found that walking an overweight dog helped both the dog and their owners lose weight. Researchers found that the dogs provided the support in similar ways to a human exercise buddy (22). Not only can dogs help our physical appearance like losing weight, they can also improve heart health by lowering blood pressure and maintaining the heart rate through stressful situations (17). In 2002 a study, researchers found measured changes in HR and BP of people who owned a dog compared to those who didn’t when the participants were performing timed tasks. Owners of dogs had a lower resting HR at the beginning than non-dog owners. Owners were also less likely to experience spikes in HR and have less errors during a maths task (23). All of these finding indicated that owning a dog lowered the risk of heart disease as well as improving performance. However the research on asthma and allergies is mixed (24). Owning a dog may not affect or might protect against specific dog allergies, though more research needs to be done into whether owning a dog has a positive or negative affect on allergies.

Dogs have been found to help older people as well. For old people their pets play a pivotal role for their health and well-being. It has been proven that stroking a pet when you have arthritis, not only calms the pet but can have a soothing effect on the arthritic inflammation (25). Not only this but dogs an help older people to find joy in life, as you age you lose things that were once important to you by the time of retirement all of your kids will have moved far away and you have no carrier to keep you occupied.  So owning a dog can bring pleasure and happiness to an otherwise quiet life, they can boost confidence and morale. As people get older many mental disorders can come into play like dementia in a study carried out by a dementia unit for US veterans found that the use of a pet dog elicited more social behaviours like talking and smiling in the presence of a dog, showing that dogs may help the elderly not only for cognition but other things as well (26). Even adopting an older dog from a shelter can add to a sense of fulfilment, however some may argue that that older dog may have to be euthanized, which would create a whole new grief for an older person . I do agree with that argument, however owning a dog is one of the most rewarding things that can be done. Even if the dog of an older person has to be put down I believe that, especially if it was an old rescue dog, the owner should be happy and proud that they gave that dog an amazing end to its life. As well as bringing joy into an older persons life dogs can also help retired, older people stay connected (27). Because as you grow older illness, death or relocation of family can leave an older person lonely, a dog not only provides companionship but walking a dog can help owners spark new friendships with other dog owners and allow them to meet new people (28). There are many physical challenges associated with aging to overcome these it is vital that you look after yourself, dogs can encourage playfulness, laughter and exercise which all boost the immune system and increase energy levels which boost vitality (29). Even dogs that don’t live with older people can have a benefit, many dogs visit nursing homes weekly which brings some joy to the pensioners day, as previously mentioned stroking a dog can reduce arthritic inflammation. An uncontrolled study on animals assisted therapy within 2 US nursing homes dealing with demented patients who had a MMSE score of 15 or below who were treated with AAT ( animal assisted therapy), for 1 hours each day they met with a dog and its trainer (30). The patients could take part in many activities like, feeding, petting, grooming the dog and socialising with the trainer, talking about previous pets they had owned, the patients on average showed 25% less behavioural disturbance (30). Not only this, but the affect that dogs can have on the stress levels of a situation can reduce blood pressure. 11 elderly individuals with hypertension, mean age 81.3, were required to speak in the presence of a dog and in the absence of a dog, while having their blood pressure measured. The individuals who spoke in the presence of a dog showed much lower diastolic blood pressure than those who spoke without a dog (31). However there can be dangers to elderly people owning pets, for example falling over the pet and fracturing a bone, which is easier to do when you are older because bones become more brittle as you age. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that there were 86,629 falls per year linked with pets, that’s an average injury rate of 29.7 per 100,000 people from 2001 to 2006 (32).A study in Australia found 16 fractures to the elderly who were at least 65, most of the individuals injured had tripped over a pet or fell while feeding the pet (32). Pets like dogs also have the capability to pass on zoonotic diseases and infections, which can be very harmful to elderly people. Similarly a dog could inflict traumatic injuries like a scratch or bite which could become infected and lead to something very serious due to the immune system of an elderly person being weaker than that of a younger person.

Dogs can have many effects on us psychologically; this is due to the strong human-animal bond that we share with our dogs. One of the many ways our dogs can help us is when we are suffering from depression. We are naturally drawn to keep dogs as companion animals, this is due to the fact that they love unconditionally and are always there to listen, they don’t judge either this can help someone suffering from depression feel better about themselves and want to go out and be more positive (33). Just walking your dog can help if you are depressed because it makes you get out of the house and meet other people walking their dogs, they could be complete strangers it doesn’t matter, when depressed keeping yourself isolated and cut off can make things much worse. So walking your dog, meeting people and socialising can really help. When suffering from depression you may not feel like getting out of bed, but owning a dog provides you with a sense of motivation, you are responsible the their wellbeing and providing the 5 freedoms. This means that at the very least you will get out of bed and care for the dog and get on with your life. Not only this but dogs can help you cope with stresses of life and frustrations among other things. Due to the fact that dogs exist as pack animals with a calm and consistent leadership, so you have to provide this and control your emotions for your dog’s sake (34). Following this, studies have shown that playing with a dog can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine which calm and relax this can allow us some peace at the end of the day, and it has also been proven that people who own dogs are less likely to suffer from depression than those without dogs (35). Dogs can also help reduce anxiety; they can provide comfort and can help you build self-esteem. They can do this because dogs live in the moment they only think about the here and now, this can help us to be more mindful, to live and have joy in the present (36). Not only this but dogs can affect our stress levels, just moving and touching a dog are two really good ways to reduce stress levels quickly, this is due to the fact that blood pressure is reduced by this and so we feel less stressed because our blood pressure is lower (37). It is known that part of having Alzheimer’s disease causes you to have behavioural problems and can’t deal with stress. So research done by the University of California found that patient’s suffering from Alzheimer’s suffered fewer anxious outbursts if there was a dog at home (38). Furthermore a well-trained dog can help sooth patients with this condition by providing nonverbal communication and reduce aggressive behaviour. Dogs can also help teach young children to grow up showing empathy, compassion and to take responsibility, showing that not only can dogs help us immediately with short term effects they can also shape us as we grow and the type of people we become. One way in which dogs can help people and affect them mentally is with Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) this is carried out in hospitals and has been proved to help patient with psychiatric problems. In 1998 a study of 241 patients, one group of patients took part in AAT sessions, where it was noted that they showed significantly less anxiety for patients with mood and psychotic disorders (39). It has been said by Dr Marty Becker, veterinarian, author, human-animal bond guru. “I believe having a pet has all the benefits of an antidepressant drug, and more- but without a single side effect. Pets play a vital role in ameliorating the effects of chronic medical conditions” (40). And as mental disorders are becoming recognised and a serious medical problem I feel that we can use this benefit of what the animals can do to us to help with these major disorders. The human animal bond has also affected hardened prisoners in a few of America’s prisons. Significantly a programme in Colorado called CCI, this is a 12 week programme that involves selected inmates who are serving life sentences, they provide training for dogs that may have otherwise been put down and they train them to be family pets or assistance dogs (41). This programme gives the prisoners a skill set that they can use for a job in later life, not only this but it teaches these inmates compassion, leadership and mindfulness. Also from the perspective of the inmates many say that they love training the dogs because it allows them to feel good about themselves and have a sense of self-worth, like they are giving back to the community, also after a prisoner has been released after serving a sentence where they trained a dog, the average percentage of re offences is 8-11% which is very very low. So these dogs change these prisoners and make them into better people, make them trusted again (42).

Behind the psychological affect are the chemical affects that are catalysts of the psychological effects. It has long been known that interactions with friendly dogs can calm and reduce our stress levels. When we have interactions with animals we have a release of the hormone called oxytocin which provides a stress reliving effect (43). Oxytocin does this by reducing the levels of the hormone that causes stress called cortisol. This hormone cortisol, is needed to support our survival under stressful circumstances, however if cortisol is at a high level within the body it can lead to a weakening of the immune system and increase in cholesterol. The hormone oxytocin is produced in the hypothalamus, an important control centre in the brain. It has many effects on the body which is why we feel better when we stroke a dog. For example oxytocin increases social interactions and lessens fear by affecting the amygdala (Amico, Mantella, Vollmer, & Li, 2004; Uvnas-Moberg, Ahlenius, Hillegaart, & Alster, 1994) (44). Oxytocin also counteracts aggression and arousal by affecting the locus caeruleus, which are aggression and wakefulness neurons. Furthermore oxytocin affects parts of the sympathetic nerve system regulating the cardiovascular system, which causes lower BP and an increased skin temperature ( Petersson, Lundeberg, & Uvnas-Moberg, 1999) (45). (there is a picture missing here of the study, to see it please look it up in the book that is seen in the reference) A study was done measuring the oxytocin and cortisol levels in humans after a 3 minute interaction period between the owner and their dog. The results can be seen on these two graphs.  



Cortisol is produced in the adrenal gland and is released in a response to physical activity and stress. It increases the amount of blood glucose and it increase blood pressure. This is why it is interesting to see the levels of the two hormones produced when interacting with a dog because it is physical activity however it is and interaction that causes oxytocin to be released and the levels of cortisol to be reduced. So these hormones are the reason for the mental effects we experience when interacting with dogs (46).



For many year people have realised how dogs can be trained to assist us and help us in our day to day lives. This aid has been adapted into many things; we now have guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf, dogs that can sense seizures before they happen, support dogs, some have been trained to smell for the chemicals that cancer gives off, we also have support dogs. All of these forms of assistance affect people in their day to day lives, for example a guide dog allows a person who would otherwise be dependent on others to have some freedom in life and feel safe while doing it, this not only makes the blind person feel happy, because they are independent and have a bond with their pet that is so special, but also their families can stay calm in the knowledge that their relative is safe and looked after. This is the case of all the other disability assistance dogs.  There is also thought that dogs could be taught to tell when a human who is diabetic is having a low, this has not been proven however when a test was carried out it was found that in most cases the dog would try to alert the owners before they realised that they were having a low the dogs can do this in the same way they can smell cancer, they can smell the breath of a person which will tell them if the person is having a hypoglycaemic episode by nudging the person or signalling so that the person checks their blood sugar levels and they get something to eat (47). This has also been proven to be the case in cancer detecting dogs, who can smell the chemicals given off by some sorts of cancer, this has the possibility to have a major effect on us, in 2012 there were 161,823 death (48) caused by cancer in the UK alone, some of those deaths could have been prevented if the cancer was detected earlier which is where these cancer dogs can come in and could detect some of these cancers sooner so that more people can say that they survived cancer. The reason dogs can smell cancer is because the can smell in parts per trillion to put this into perspective one cc (less than a drop) of blood, put into 20 Olympic sized swimming pools (49). The dog can smell with ease that there’s blood in the pool. So when there is a slight change in someone’s breath due to the cancerous chemicals in their body the dog can sense this and alert people. We can normally smell cancer in stages 3 or 4 whereas dogs can smell it at stages 0-2 which gives people a much larger chance of surviving cancer.



Having a dog is seen to aid people towards becoming more sociable. Studies have shown that people trust others, even if they are strangers, who own a dog more than other strangers (50). Not only this but owning a dog can provide the same social interactions as a human friendship  (51). Owning a dog allows us to practice social and caring skills that can be modified and applied to humans. A study looking into how a friendly animal in a humans company can affect the social interactions between humans Wells (2004) studies the behaviour of 1800 strangers with regards to a female experimenter under 6 conditions: accompanied by a Labrador puppy, by an adult Labrador, an adult Rottweiler, a teddy bear, a plant or the control conditions on being alone with her. By herself was when the experimenter was most ignored, more than with the teddy and the plant, and she got most attention in the presence of a dog. However the Rottweiler lead to more non-responses than the Lab puppy and adult Lab, who created smiles and verbal responses (52). It has also been proven that children with autism or other developmental disorders have an improved interpersonal behaviour after undergoing Animal Assisted Therapy; this was also seen in the presence of a friendly dog with the addition of greater use of language (Sams et al., 2006) (53). In a study with adults diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia taking part in dog-assisted therapy it was linked to improvements in social contact and quality of life, however in comparison with the control group the differences weren’t significant (54). Because owning a dog helps you to become more sociable it can help people also with depression because it makes them socialise and talk to people, so the fact that the dog helps you to socialise helps with things like depression.


In conclusion dogs help us a phenomenal amount. Many of these ways we don’t immediately recognise however our dogs do affect. They affect young children even babies, they help them learn and develop essential emotions needed in later life.  They also affect us physically which can include helping us lose weight to reducing our heart rate and blood pressure under stressful conditions. They not only affect young children they can also help and impact older people, like the soothing effect of stroking a dog on arthritis; acting as a companion for people in their later years and help them to socialise more. Psychologically dogs have a major impact on us, we may not realise it but they can help with depression, by affecting how much people socialise and by always being unconditionally loving. Not only this but dog can affect people with Alzheimer’s and match the energy levels of a child with ADHD. Also dogs can soften the most hardened criminals and give them something to live for and help them give back to society by providing dogs that will go on to help blind people one day. Then dogs can affect us in a very obvious way by providing a new lease of life to people with debilitating health defects, so you can get guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf, sensor dogs fir smelling cancer and hypoglycaemia. For this you can see how much dogs truly affect us in every way of life.    

References

1.       pets and health: the impact of companion animals by Diana Casciotti  29/12/15

2.       How animals affect us (book) pg.16 Dolgin, K. G., & Behrend, D. A. (1984). Children’s knowledge about animates and inanimates. Child development, 55, 1646-1650.

3.       How animals affect us (book) pg. 15 Kidd, A. H., & Kidd, R. M. (1987). Reactions of infants and toddlers to live and toy animals. Psychological Reports, 61, 455-464.

4.        LoBue,v. Bloom Pickard, M., Sherman, K., Axford,C., & Deloache, J. (2013). Young children’s interest in live animals British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 31(1), 57-69 DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2012.02078.x

5.       Geerdts, M., Van de Walle, G., & LoBue, V.(2015). Daily animal exposure and children’s biological concepts Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 130, 132-146 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.10.001

6.       How animals affect us (book) pg. 17 Kosonen, M. (1996). Siblings as providers of support and care during middle child-hood: Children’s perceptions. Children and society, 10, 581-589.

7.       How animals affect us (book) pg. 17 Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993). Friendship and friendship quality in middle childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and social distress. Developmental Psychology, 29, 611-621.

8.       how animals affect us (book) pg. 20-21, Melson, G. F., Kahn, P. H. Jr., Beck, A., Friedman, B., Roberts, T., Garrett, E., & Gill, B. (2009). Children’s behaviour towards and understanding of robotic and living dogs. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 92-102.

9.        PAWSitive InterAction inaugural educational Summit May 2002, page 7, 5th  paragraph

10.   How animals affect us pg.166.  

11.       

12.    How animals affect us pg.170. Havener, L., Gentes, L., Thaler, B., Megel, M. E., Baun, M. M., Driscoll, F. A., . . . Agrawal, S. (2001). The effects of a companion animal on the distress in children undergoing dental procedures. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 24, 137-317.  

13.   McNicholas J, Collis GM (2000). Dogs as catalysts for social interactions: robustness of the effect. Br J Psychol;91:61-70

14.   How animals affect us pg. 140

15.   How Animals affect us pg.141 Australian Government Department of Health and Aging, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, Australian Food and Grocery Council. (2008). Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (2007). Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Author.

16.   Impact on Physical Health: pets and health the impact of companion animals http://center4research.org/healthy-livin-prevention/pets-and-health-the-impact-of-companion-animals/ .


18.    

19.   PAWSitive InterAction inaugural educational Summit May 2002, pg.5 figure 2 

20.   PAWSitive InterAction inaugural educational Summit May 2002, pg.7-8 quote from Dr. Edward Creagan.



23.   http://center4research.org/healthy-livin-prevention/pets-and-health-the-impact-of-companion-animals/ . impacts on physical health. .Allen K, Blascovich J, Mendes WB (2002). Cardiovascular reactivity and the presence of pets, friends, and spouses: the truth about cats and dogs. Psychosom Med. Sep-Oct;64(5):727-39.

24.   http://center4research.org/healthy-livin-prevention/pets-and-health-the-impact-of-companion-animals/ . 12.Simpson A, Custovic A (2003). Early pet exposure: friend or foe? Allergy Clin Immunol. Feb;3(1):7-14.

25.   PAWSitive InterAction inaugural educational Summit May 2002 pg.7 paragraph 5

26.   7.L. G. Kongable, K. C. Buckwalter, and J. M. Stolley, “The effects of pet therapy on the social behavior of institutionalized Alzheimer's clients,” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 191–198, 1989.

27.   http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.htm in Dogs and Health Benefits for older Adults. 

28.    http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.htm in Dogs and Health Benefits for older Adults. 

29.   http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.htm in Dogs and Health Benefits for older Adults. 

30.   8.N. E. Richeson, “Effects of animal-assisted therapy on agitated behaviors and social interactions of older adults with dementia,” The American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and other Dementias, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 353–358, 2003.

31.   E. Friedmann, S. A. Thomas, L. K. Cook, C.-C. Tsai, and S. J. Picot, “A friendly dog as potential moderator of cardiovascular response to speech in older hypertensives,” Anthrozoos, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 51–63, 2007 also  S. B. Barker, J. S. Knisely, N. L. McCain, C. M. Schubert, and A. K. Pandurangi, “Exploratory study of Stress-Buffering response patterns from interaction with a therapy dog,” Anthrozoos, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 79–91, 2010.

32.    Kurrle SE, Day R, Cameron ID. The perils of pet ownership: a new fall-injury risk factor. Med J Aust 2004;181:682--3.

 American Veterinary Medical Association. Socialization and training






38.   http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.htm in dogs and adults with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

39.   PAWSitive InterAction inaugural educational Summit May 2002. Barker SB& Dawson KS, Psychiatric Services, June 1998 49(6), 797-801.

40.   PAWSitive InterAction inaugural educational Summit May 2002 pg.7 quote in the margin.

41.   https://www.coloradoci.com/serviceproviders/puppy/index.html  in the about section of the dog program


43.   How animals affect us pg 53

44.   Amico, J. A., Mantella, R. C., Vollmer, R. R., & Li, X. (2004). Anxiety and stress responses in female oxytocin deficient mice. Jounal of Neutoendocrinology, 16(4), 319-324. And. Uvans-Moberg, K., Ahlenius, S., Hillegaart, V., & Alster, P. (1994). High doses of oxytocin cause sedation and low doses cause an anxiolytic-like effect in male rats. Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behaviour, 49(1), 101-106.

45.   Peterson, M., Lunderberg, T., & Uvnas-Moberg, K. (1999). Short-term increase and long-term decrease of blood pressure in response to oxytocin-potentiating effect of female steroid hormones. Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, 33(1), 102-108.

46.   How animals affect us. pg 53-78



Bibliography

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/content/cancer-statistics-for-the-uk (1)

http://www.caninepartners.org.uk/assistancedogs

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cggr/2014/623203/

http://can-do-canines.org/ourdogs/diabetes-assist-dogs/

http://dogsdetectcancer.org/can-dogs-smell-cancer/

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.htm

http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2015/02/what-do-young-children-learn-from-pets.html  

www.animalport.com/dogs-help

http://depression.emedtv.com/6-ways-dogs-help-people-with-depression-slideshow.html

http://center4research.org/healthy-living-prevention/pets-and-health-the-impact-of-companion-animals/

www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com

www.tastyhuman.com/animal-psychology

http://time.com/3681321/dogs-in-prison/

http://mentalfloss.com

http://bostonglobe.com

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

https://www.coloradoci.com/serviceproviders/puppy/index.html

Books;

How animals affect us



Videos;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDU2fA_LBKs

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