Ever since the Neolithic period, dogs have been known as man's best friend as they contribute to the safety and protection of lives and properties, and also assist in hunting activities.
But their importance in securing human life was vastly underplayed to guard dogs, guide dogs, and hunting animals.
But, dogs have over time grown to become doctors of our time, saving not just life but also assisting in the fight against diseases, emotional damage, and detection of hormonal imbalance.
Research has shown that having a dog exposes us to much better health conditions, as dog owners are prone to exercise more often.
Owning a dog means that you have the physical obligation to take that dog out on a walk at least twice a day. And before I wrote this article, I read a post made by @matyr who indicated that sitting for an abnormally long period can increase a person's chance of dying young. But, having a dog in this case, would vastly reduce those chances.
Not only do dogs have the ability to increase our blood flow through physical activities like walking, but they also assist during cases of depression, when the mind and the body are at war. Depression is usually due to stress from work, school, or family issues. But having a dog around can cure this symptom quicker than any antidepressant. The presence of a dog helps to stimulate the release of oxytocin which is a "love hormone", that facilitates social bonding in humans. So imagine having ten dogs...that's ten times the oxytocin!!
But the most important feature of dogs in health treatment is their ability to sniff out the bad blood. Not that the blood is bad, just that there is an abnormality in the blood hormone balance that eventually disposes the individual or patient to a variety of health problems. One of the case use of dogs in disease diagnosis is the case of diabetes, where the patient experiences a low blood sugar level which is termed medically as hypoglycemia. In a case like this, dogs have been trained to detect this abnormality and can accomplish this without much problem due to the sniffing power of their nose which is about 1000-100,000 times more powerful than that of humans, because of the smell glands of dogs which usually varies from about 250-300 depending on the species.
So, with the ability to induce exercise in man, as well as induce the release of oxytocin (which is a happy hormone), and sniffing for irregularities in our blood system, I do not doubt that dogs have now become the doctors of our time, assisting not only in war, protection of lives and properties but also in the proper treatment and diagnosis of man.
So why don't you get a dog today and reduce your chances of a heart attack, depression, stress, boredom, and death?
Remember, Stay healthy always.