Here's the thing....up until the late 1990s.....a couple of years after 'Desert Storm', some therapists came to this decision or idea, that therapy dogs/animals were the next best angle at getting to a person's 'problems'. Scientifically proven? No.....it's just that people react to this odd stimulus and it's a positive trend.
After this trend started, I didn't think much about it until one day at the Pentagon....they had this incident occur where two therapy dogs meet up on the grounds, and got into some 'fight'. After that, there was a review of this whole therapy dog regulation there, and people started to ask question about the science to this. Other than doctors saying it had positive things.....there was no real science to it.
So my theory is this, and it leads to three central elements:
1. Just in general, folks crave someone who cares. Oddly enough, a dog fills that void in different ways. The dog wants to be your 'buddy' or friend. The dog wants you to be happy. The dog wants you to walk them or brush them. The dog wants 'happy-snacks'. And the dog is pretty sure that you will house them in comfort (maybe give them the $29 dog-blanket, and allow them access to heated or cooled housing).
2. Lets just go ahead and admit this.....dogs are probably better companions than someone of the opposite sex. Dogs never have a bad day. Dogs don't whine about the boss. Dogs don't get speeding tickets and pout about the $150 fine. Dogs don't make scheduling demands about church-time, visits to their relatives, or suggest vacations to Aruba.
3. Finally, dogs can perceive a bad day, and come up to you with a stick or ball, and you spend half-a-hour getting that frustration out/gone.
I'm not going to say therapy dogs are the essential answer (you are simply swapping your lifestyle from one direction to another). Certainly, the dog is better than having therapy burro, or therapy elephant. But in the end, you might be better off with both a dog, and a spouse/GF/lady-friend.
3.
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