Dogs Are Great Pets: They Can Help Calm You Down Or Even Help You Out With 

Written by: Leilani Lewis

Imagine that your mom is away on a trip and you’re all alone at the house. It’s your first time and you’re scared and anxious. To add to all of those emotions, you're also missing your mom. You’ve never been away from her for so long. As you lay in your soft, comfy bed turned towards the wall and suddenly you hear tiny footsteps in your room. You turn to see your dog, big and fluffy, he climbs up onto your bed and rests his head on your chest.

You love having him because whenever you're feeling sad it seems like your dog is always there for you.

This is an example of one way dogs can help calm you down when you’re anxious. In Chicago, Illinois at Lane Tech College Prep they brought in therapy dogs to help calm students before a test. The students laughed and cried tears of joy as they hugged the dogs.

“I love my dog Nova, her warm fur, her fluffy ears, she helps me a lot.” These are the words of 8th grader Lilia Holden. She says in an interview that when her mom went on a trip to Vegas, she missed her a lot. Thankfully, her dog Nova was there for her. At Lane Tech College Prep high school in Chicago, Illinois, they brought in therapy dogs to help relieve students' stress before a test. "A lot of them are in AP classes," Assistant Principal Sarah Hanly said. "We're trying to get them to chill out a little bit." As Waffle, the 85 pound golden retriever, walked in the students were in awe. 

Monica Synecky is Waffles' owner and a volunteer with Canine Therapy Corps. She said she often takes her dog to visit high school students around finals time because obviously things are stressful, you’re studying as much as you can, cramming stuff in and overall it can be pretty overwhelming. "Just the idea of having a dog in school is good because the school environment is just about stress," she said. "Then here is this dog. You get a break. "This is the second year the dogs and volunteers have come to Lane Tech College Prep to help students with stress with finals. Junior Sophia Cohen sat with Waffle, and she talked and talked to her friend about how stressed she was over finals. These high school students must agree that therapy dogs are pretty helpful. 

Helping you relax is one way dogs can help but if trained, dogs can even help you with tasks around the farm.

That's what a program called PHARM Dog does. It is an organization that has service dogs that can help with agriculture. This means it helps farmers with disabilities that don’t want to give up farming. Alda Owen, the owner of a farm, had the organization come to help her. "I feel sufficient, and I had stayed back hiding a lot of my life." The PHARM Dog organization has trained their service dogs to retrieve or pick up dropped tools, open a latch gate system, carry buckets, as well as standing and bracing if a farmer has stability issues, or going for help. “I wish my dog was trained so she could help me with tasks” Lilia Holden says. “It would be nice and give me a break."

Dogs are great companions; they can help with tasks and even calm you down.

To other people it might seem kind of weird that a dog could relieve stress. Whether it’s a service dog helping you with your disabilities or a therapy dog helping you with stress dogs can be very useful. If you’re ever feeling stressed out or anxious, getting a dog could be a beneficial move. Trained or not, they can provide you with great comfort and be a friend to you.