It’s been nearly three years since we rescued our dog from a local dog shelter. She’s been a wonderful addition to our family. For our family, our dog is not only our best friend, but our best health coach too! Here are some key benefits to having a family dog.
They Help Boost Your Mood
Did you know that dogs actually improve your mood? According to NBC News, it only takes about 15-30 minutes of time with your pet to make you feel more calm and relaxed. If my kids are feeling sad or stressed, I always encourage them to spend some time with our dog.
Dogs Help Your Family Stay Active
Having a dog encourages our family to exercise more. We take daily walks together and play in the yard with her. She’s inspired us to take more hikes and walks in the woods too. She is a great motivator to get the kids off the couch and away from electronics for a while each day.
Dogs Can Help Boost Kids Health
Having a family dog can help contribute to the overall health of your children. According to Web MD, kids who grow up with pets suffer less from allergies and asthma and take fewer sick days from school. I will say that my daughter might WANT to take a sick day from time to time to stay home with her furry friend. LOL!
Dogs Help Kids be More Social
My daughter is really shy. When we first got our dog, I would bring her to school to pick up my daughter. Having her show our dog to her classmates really helped her come out of her shell. When we moved to a new neighborhood, having our dog helped us get to know the neighbors in the area by taking walks each day. Folks are much more likely to say hi when you are walking a puppy. It helped us get to know our neighbors in just a few short weeks.
Dogs Teach Great Life Lessons
Having a dog has helped our children to be more responsible. We adopted our pup from a local shelter so they understood the commitment we were making to rescue a dog. They knew it would be a big responsibility to own a dog and they stepped up to the challenge. Having a dog has also taught them patience and tolerance.
These are just a few benefits to owning a dog. Personally, we recommend a dog shelter pup, but any dog will do. There is so much more that they have to offer. Purina ProPlan BRIGHT MIND and Dognition are exploring more about dog behavior. The findings are fascinating!
We love learning more and working with our dog. Taking care of her and working on training helps us make stronger bonds with her. Purina Pro Plan BRIGHT MIND and Dognition have partnered together to be able to determine how bonded your dog is to you.
Dognition is an innovative online platform that offers fun, science-based games that reveal the unique way each dog sees the world. Together the two are educating dog owners about canine cognition and the role nutrition plays in brain health as part of their dogs overall well-being. We are having a blast getting to know our dog better and playing the games in the Dognition platform.
As part of the partnership, dog owners who purchase Purina Pro Plan BRIGHT MIND Adult or Adult 7+ dry dog food will receive a free Dognition Assessment. Purina Pro Plan BRIGHT MIND Adult 7+ actually showed noticeable differences in a dog’s alertness and mental sharpness after 30 days.
Giveaway – Free Dognition Assessment – Comment to Enter
One of my lucky readers an opportunity to take the Dognition Assessment for free. Simply leave a comment about your dog and I’ll be using random.org to select a winner.
Even if you can’t adopt a dog from a local dog shelter, you can help them with a some sort of donation. Many need not only money, but volunteers, pet food, toys and more. Find a dog shelter near you and show them you care.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Purina Pro BRIGHT MIND. The opinions and text are all mine.
We had to put our rescue dog Smiley to sleep in January. She was 13 and very ill. In April we adopted Juniper, who was rescued from dog meat butchers in Thailand. She is a love!
I love this, my daughter is only 4 but she has been asking for a dog a lot lately. She is very shy, but I never thought about the ways the dog could help her in that area.
Thanks for sharing.
It’s nice to have any type of furbaby around!!!! I have two kitties and they definitely cheer up my day!!
We used to have a dog and really miss having one. They certainly do make life better.
We have been used researching dog breeds and talking to breeders. I’m allergic so we need to make sure we get a puppy that won’t trigger my allergies. We would prefer to get a shelter dog… They are always the best Pets.
I would love to get a dob but my current lifestyle does not permit it but dogs are more than just man’s best friend.
I so agree with the sentiments of your article. I am sponsoring assistance dogs that are trained to help all kinds of social issues, from PTSD in vets, to children with autism and aspergers. Wonderful, heart warming and lifesaving stories.
I really cannot imagine life without my dogs. The always cheer me up after a long day and taking them on their walk is very relaxing.
What a truly wonderful post about your doggy journey 🙂 Love to read posts about people helping animals!
Dogs help us in SO many ways! Such a great post and fun pictures – pups are the best!
I can’t imagine life without a dog. I’ve had dogs my entire life and our current dog, Max, is a joy to be around.
It’s so nice having dogs around. I definitely agree that they boost your mood and keep you active.
We have 3 dogs and I am so happy we do. They are my babies! So happy my kids get to grow up having pets like I did! So many benefits to dog ownership, wouldn’t change a thing!
We lost our Black Lab about a year ago but he lived a long healthy life thanks to Purina! Thank you for outlining so many fantastic benefits from owning a pet. My husband and I foster homeless animals and many people would be happier and healthier if they had pets.
I have heard for a while about kids who have pets having less asthma and allergies. My kids grew up with pets and it was a great experience for them. I had pets growing up too.
I miss having a dog and I cannot wait until we can get another one. If it was up to me I would probably have entire farm.