dogs and stress

[gagesbarb]

heard a reference to this article this morning on the radio...not a surprise:
"new Israeli study authored by Dr. Michel Balaish, Director of the Veterinary Institute at the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, has discovered that the blood pressure of children who were raised with a dog in the house were lower than children who were raised without one, according to Israeli media.

It is widely known that having an animal in the house can greatly reduce stress and anxiety among pet owners and can even lead to a longer life. In fact, some doctors even prescribe therapy dogs or recommend that a patient adopt an animal if their anxiety or depression is severe enough, as opposed to normal medications."

[Cindy]

No surprise indeed! I remember my first job out of college (way back in the 70s) and I used to bring my Old English Sheepdog to the nursing home where I worked. The nursing staff would always remark on how much happier and more relaxed the residents were after I'd been there with my dog. Back then, bringing a dog into any kind of medical facility was kind of a no no but the administrator was a dog lover so ......

[AuntieMom]

One of my foster dogs was adopted by a family with many girls (I did not realize until seeing him with them that he was a tea party guy, not a hunting dog. Silly me. ) One of his girls was not reading as much as her mom wanted. Then reading to the Brittany in the sunroom became a thing. She was reading and he was loving it.

[browneliza45]

howdy,
how to help your pet from fear of something?
Is there any trick?

[gagesbarb]

There is no one approach, but in general, what I think is that you want to change the dog's feeling about the scarey thing. Use a classical conditioning approach in which you pair the scarey thing with a positive, i.e. often a high value treat. You have to start far enough away from the trigger/scarey thing, i.e. when the dog "notices" the trigger and when he does, give him a treat. Slowly, slowly move a bit closer, pairing the trigger with the treat, trying to change the dog's feelings, helping the dog to learn to associate trigger with a positive. Sound easy, but lots of things to consider. You can always work with a trainer to help with the details, but I think that is the general approach.