MEET YOUR DOG!
The healing power of animals
The Healing Power of Animals
by Dr. Glenn Key
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Animals forgive and forget so quickly. Maybe God did give them to us to teach us love like we have never known. |
In spite of all that is written about love, there are millions of people who rarely, if ever, say the emotion-filled words, "I love you." There are millions more who never hear those high-energy words, and still more who never feel love. Dr. Dean Ornish based his best-selling book Love and Survival on a single but powerful idea: that "our survival depends on the healing power of love, intimacy and relationships."
The healing power of love is not limited to human love. Indeed, because of growing interest in alternative approaches to healing and wholeness, researchers are now exploring the healing effects generated by dogs in convalescent homes, tropical fish as stress busters for the anxious and depressed, and animal relationships for people recovering from heart attacks.
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Live Longer, Get A Pet Dr. Michael Roizen believes that pet owners stay younger longer. During research for a book on the subject, he recalled a 1980 study of heart attack survivors that found the survival rate within the year of the heart attack was 94% for pet owners and only 72% for non-pet owners. Everyone, including animals, have some wounds that need healing. While cures for a variety of illness are available, real healing comes from within, often when a willing person or animal reaches out for love. Almost every animal lover has a story of a beloved pet that made a profound difference in his or her life. Becca had just finished her Master of Library Science degree in Missouri and was moving to Texas to start her new job. The men who were coming to load her belongings were late in arriving. In frustration, Becca ran down the stairs to meet them. In doing so, she fell and tore all the tendons in her right ankle. Becca arrived at her new home popping pain pills and wobbling on crutches. While the movers unloaded the truck, they pulled out a chair for Becca to sit and supervise. She had not been sitting long when a small tuxedo-colored black and white cat with white whiskers jumped into her lap, purred and went to sleep. Though Becca always loved cats, she had planned to get two pedigree cats, not some stray. Settling into her new house, Becca fed the cat, but kept the door cracked so he could go back where he came from. The little cat never left. It was not long before another stray cat "figured out that she ran a good bed and breakfast" and moved in. Becca now has her two new cats. Although neither is the pedigree she expected, both cats gave Becca the healing love that not only helped her wounded body, but the trauma of a major move and new job. Ruthie had been a dog trainer and had shown dogs in many events. Her personal favorite was her 150-pound, five-year-old, Newfoundland dog. When her marriage of seven years ended in divorce, Ruthie had many periods of sadness, loneliness and crying. One day, while lying on her couch crying, Ruthie's huge Newfoundland dog jumped up beside her and licked her tears. Ruthie realized that with the love of her favorite pet, she would never be unloved. A Two-Way Street Although animals can provide healing love for their owners, sometimes the owners have to be the first to give the love. Beth calls Calico her miracle baby. When the cat showed up on Beth's doorstep one morning, she was emaciated, sullen and withdrawn. She looked as if she had been nursing, because she was so thin and folds of skin hung down from her stomach. The cat was unable to connect with people except when she was being fed, which was often. In fact, food had to be monitored carefully because she ate till it looked like she would pop. Calico did not like to be petted, except when she wanted water. In addition, she did not know how to bathe herself or do any grooming, which is unusual for a cat. Calico did not associate with anyone and slept alone. Britches, Beth's other cat, is very fussy, clean, affectionate and desirous of lots of attention, especially at bedtime. Calico began watching Britches' actions and the affection she and Beth shared. Beth made a special effort to talk to Britches and pet her when she saw that Calico was watching. Calico soon became a copycat, and seemed to release the trauma of her past. She began to ask for attention and got it. Calico is now a loving, affectionate cat. In fact, she cleans not only herself but, at times, also Britches. Although Beth does not know what had happened to Calico, she does know that this cat's remarkable healing and changes in personality and behavior were the result of the love extended to her. Is it possible that God gave us pets to teach us unconditional love? We can scold, punish, and isolate our pets when they have not been as good as we think they should be, and yet when we go back to them in just a few minutes they are eagerly licking our faces or purring in our laps. Animals forgive and forget so quickly. Maybe God did give them to us to teach us love like we have never known. What a wonderful healthy group of people we all would be if we could forgive and heal and love as quickly as our pets! |
Dogs have long had special standing in the medical world. Trained to see for the blind, hear for the deaf and move for the immobilized, dogs have become indispensable companions for people with disabilities.
But dogs appear to be far more than four-legged health care workers. Over the years, data on the larger role dogs play in health has trickled out from various corners of the world. One Japanese study found pet owners made 30 percent fewer visits to doctors. A Melbourne study of 6,000 people showed that owners of dogs and other pets had lower cholesterol, blood pressure and heart attack risk compared with people who didn’t have pets. Obviously, the better health of pet owners could be explained by a variety of factors, but many experts believe companion animals improve health at least in part by lowering stress.
Dogs, in particular, also have been shown to do remarkable things to improve the health of their owners. There are stories of dogs warning their owners of imminent health threats. In 2003, University of Florida researchers published a report in the journal Seizure noting that some dogs seem to have an innate ability to detect impending seizures. A 2000 report in the British Medical Journal examined case studies of dogs alerting people with diabetes of a coming hypoglycemic episode.
More recently, some studies have suggested dogs can be cancer detectors. In 2006, the medical journal Integrative Cancer Therapies reported how ordinary house dogs could identify breast and lung cancer patients by smelling their breath. A University of Maine study is testing whether dogs can sniff out ovarian cancer.
The role dogs play in medicine is celebrated in a new book, “Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs’’ (Alyson Books, 2007), which chronicles the numerous ways dogs contribute to our health. Author Sharon Sakson is a journalist and television producer, dog breeder and American Kennel Club dog-show judge. She admits to being biased about her subject matter, and she tends to write about the mundane details of dogs and their owners. Much of the evidence surrounding dogs and health is anecdotal, although Ms. Sakson includes many references to published research. The stories of service dogs are particularly impressive, as is the nascent research into dogs’ ability to detect cancer.
Ms. Sakson said she first began thinking about the link between dogs and health while reporting an earlier book on men and dogs. A few men she interviewed who had AIDS credited their dogs with playing a role in their improved health.
While Ms. Sakson says more studies are needed to show exactly what role dogs play in health, any dog owner already knows the benefits of their relationship with their pet.
“I went into it because I loved my dogs — they can do so much for our society,” said Ms. Sakson. “There’s no question they give us emotional support.”
Sharon Sakson has so eloquently told in her wonderful, life-affirming book, Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs.
Sharon chronicles the way in which dogs can literally save people's lives, whether they are recuperating from debilitating illnesses, suffering from undetected cancer, fighting unseen enemies in wartime combat, living with the ever-present threat of an epileptic seizure, wracked by unrelenting pain, plagued by plunging sugar levels from type II diabetes, or trying to live with dignity and independence while compromised by sight or hearing disabilities.
Ms. Sakson has an artful ability to grab her readers by telling them about one particular dog, and how he or she transformed the life of one individual person, all the while providing scrupulously researched sources and documentation to buttress some of the seemingly unbelievable successes of these remarkable canines.
Some of her stories are heartwarming, such as the one about "Mr. Gruffyd Babayan," an odd-looking, one-eyed Brussels Griffon who, as part of Westminster Kennel Club's Angel on a Leash program, makes weekly visits to Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House in Manhattan, in his role as an "Animal-Assisted Therapy Dog" to lend encouragement to children who have cancer, and heart failure and leukemia and broken bones. He's a particular favorite among physical therapists who have trouble getting their young patients to start walking again, after surgery. Mr. G.B. has an uncanny knack of being able to motivate children to get up and try to do what they think they can't do.
