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Have a healthy New Year with a dog in your life
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Happy New Year from Scottsdale’s DOG HOUSE...
Matthew McConaughey has the right idea. Dogs are great for our health. If you haven’t already added a furry four-footed friend to your family, add one as part of your New Year’s resolutions to becoming healthier! And please rescue a dog from one of our local shelters, swollen past capacity due to our economic climate. You will save a life and give yourself a big boost, too.
According to the American Pet Products Association, dogs (and cats, too) help with the following:
- Lower Blood Pressure - A recent study at the State University of New York at Buffalo found that people with hypertension who adopted a pet had lower blood pressure readings in stressful situations than did those who did not own one.
- Reduce Stress - Walking with a pet helps to sooth nerves and offers instant relaxation. The impact of a stressful situation is lesser on pet owners, especially males, than on those who do not own a pet.
- Prevent Heart Disease - Because pets provide people with faithful companionship, research shows they may also provide their owners with greater psychological stability, thus a measure of protection from heart disease.
- Lower Health Care Costs - People with pets actually make fewer doctor visits, especially for non-serious medical conditions.
- Fight Depression and Loneliness, promoting an interest in life.
A new study by researchers from Stanford University and the University of California also indicate that pets boost the immune system, even reducing one's chance of developing non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Exposure to allergens - from pets - could boost the immune system as well, particularly in children born into households with pets.
Pet events: If you are looking to get a jump on the new year and get some great exercise with your dog AND help pets in need, join PetSmart Charities Pet Walk, January 25, 2009, at the Tempe Town Lake.
Where to adopt a pet: Please refer to the side links here for animal shelters from which to adopt a dog. If adoption doesn’t fit your lifestyle, consider fostering a pet, instead. Lost Our Home Pet Foundation is in urgent need of foster parents to help save the lives of abandoned animals due to foreclosures. Anyone who loves animals can be a foster parent, even low-income households (stipends are offered to defer costs.)
Make it a healthy and happy New Year. Add a canine companion to your life.
Bottom photo credit: www.cairnsunlimited.com/
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