Can a pet bring happiness to your life? If you were to ask me my answer would straight away be ‘YES!’. However, are there proven statistics that an animal can have an impact on your mental health and wellbeing.
Before getting my dog, Ernie, I was constantly scared by the idea of being approached by an animal. Most people tend to react like this. Either due to a traumatic experience they faced due to an animal or possibly due to the fact that they have never had contact with one. I personally suffered with the trauma aspect. After all, everyone is unpredictable.
When I first got my dog, several questions came up for me. Would I be fit to look after it? Would it be unsociable towards other dogs? None of my worries or questions were relevant for me. You call this luck, but I would tell you that my behaviour changed and I had a natural extinct on how to act with dogs. You’ll find that the happiness your dog has rubs off on you. According to statistics, people who have one or more pets in their homes lead happier lives, are considerably healthier, live longer and weigh less than those who don't. If this isn’t enough for you then I don’t know what is. Obviously, you can’t always change a person and some people may always be animal haters. I spoke to a lady – prefers to remain anonymous- she told me that she “took Solie (her border collie) to a mental health hospital and could see the impact as soon as he walked through the door. There faces lit up when they came to contact with him.”
