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Dogs great for kicking depression
By cuzzy | August 15, 2007
Read this in the Chronicle Herald today.
Nothing like telling your troubles to four-legged friend
My First job out of college was at a publishing house in downtown Detroit. I worked in a historic building that had revolving doors, escalators and the old-fashioned kind of elevators with operators who manually pulled the door closed. It was a great building.
The folks who trained service dogs for the blind thought so, too. Every few months they would bring a truckload of golden retrievers and Labradors for training in dealing with elevators, escalators and revolving doors. On those days I spent my lunch hour in the back of the truck with the dogs. I have always loved dogs, sometimes more than people.
When I was sick last year, unable to work because of my depression, my Weimaraner Bella watched me very closely. Bella is not an especially well-behaved dog, but she is happy. Annoyingly happy if you are in a major depression. Looking back, she was a blessing. Without her, I would have stayed in bed. Even though Bella has a doggy door and can let herself out, she insisted on walks. Because I wasn’t sleeping well, we walked, often in the dark.
Dogs — and cats I suppose — seem to have an amazing ability to detect our mental status. Maybe that Dog Whisperer guy is right, that dogs can size you up in an instant by just looking at your posture. Whatever it is, there is no denying that dog therapy works.
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Topics: Lab Related, dog news, info, tips and advice |
August 15th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Know exactly what you mean about dogs helping with the blues. I used to be a university lecturer and all-round workaholic until I burned out, literally walked out, and surrounded myself with (currently) four basset hounds. Nowadays I’m a freelancer, canine behaviourist, and spend my days with the dogs. It took me until I was in my late 30s to realise that helping people communicate with their dogs, as well as having dogs share your life, was more important than a big fat salary and presitgious career. It’s kind of funny seeing the look on people’s faces when they discover how I’ve turned into He Who Lives With Dogs.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
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http://dogallergyinfo.blogspot.com/ care to link exchange and help me out with some exposure? nice blog btw.. hehe
thanks
December 11th, 2007 at 8:48 am
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May 29th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Wow, thanks a bunch for the info mate!
June 18th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
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