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Infographic: How Dogs Improve Your Health!

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I am a bona fide animal-lover if there ever was one. I’m pretty sure you could tell from all the pictures of animals on Self Help Daily or in my Twitter timeline, but I thought I’d write it out loud just in case.

Left to my own devices, I’d have at least two of every animal known to man, but my cats (and husband, for that matter) don’t share my off-the-hook enthusiasm. What’s more, we are, primarily, a cat family. We are blessed to live out of the city, so we’re able to take in cats who need a forever home, a forever family, and all the love they can stand.

How much are we committed to these cats? Well, for one thing, forfeited our entire carport to house a couple of (heated in the winter, of course) cat houses, cat food stations, chairs, and toys… lots of cat toys. Their set-up is ridiculously sweet. At any rate, this is the only reason I don’t have a dog, or two, or twenty. Dogs are amazing, loyal, beautiful, sweet, intelligent…. but woefully an enemy of our cat family.

Dogs aren’t just wonderful and loving family members, they’re actually very healthy for you. Just one of the ways I’ve found this to be true has been with dogs I’ve had and loved in the past (before the cats took over our hearts and yard!). Over the years, I have, without question, walked more frequently (and for longer periods of time) when I’ve had a canine companion. They love it so much, you just don’t want to stop their fun!

The great infographic below tells more ways dogs are actually very healthy for you. As for my opinion on the matter – I think that dogs (like cats) add to your joy and happiness – and that, fellow-animal lovers, is a key component of having a healthy and worthwhile life.

If you are able, I wholeheartedly suggest heading to your local shelter and allowing a RESCUE to take place. Just be warned, it won’t be the dog (or cat) that’s rescued!

How Dogs Improve Your Health Infographic

Infographic Credit: A Place for Animals!


Coping with Stress

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Alexa

I’m lucky when it comes to stress. I took after my dad, the most laid back Joe to ever live.  So, generally-speaking, stress and I aren’t on a first name basis.  However, since I am human (most of the time), I do experience stressful situations and there have been times when I’m happily chugging down life’s road, only to have stress present its ugly self in the form of a roadblock.

Hate it when that happens.

When it comes to coping with stress, naturally the best advice to give, or receive, is to avoid the things that stress you out.  If you get stressed when you go shopping amongst crowds, for example, go earlier in the morning.  If running late causes you to stress out, make a habit of setting your alarm clock earlier.  Basically, do whatever you can do to stay one step ahead of stress.

A continued cycle of stress is ridiculously bad for your health. Studies show that stress actually WEAKENS your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable for all sorts of illnesses.  Left free to roam through your life, stress also wreaks havoc on your relationships and, often, your job.  Obviously, it’s imperative that you identify the things that cause you to experience stress and eliminate as many as possible.  For those that can’t be entirely eliminated, find ways to deal with them.  Again, stay one step ahead of your stress signals.

Also, make a point of carving out a little time each day to totally and completely relax.  The great thing about scheduling this time for later in the day is that it gives you something to look forward to all day.  When your to do list just keeps getting longer and has lost all sense of reason, you can smile and say, “Fine. I’ll keep working like a caffeinated maniac but when 7:00 rolls around, I”ll be on the sofa watching baseball with a Coke in one hand and popcorn in the other.”

It takes the sting out of even the vilest to do list. Trust me.

If you read my self help blog (or any of my blogs for that matter), you’ve probably already guessed what my number 1 stress buster is:  PETS!   Experts tell us that having a pet can help reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, and improve heart health.  Pets are also excellent, excellent, stress busters.  You simply cannot feel stressed while petting a cat, walking a dog, or listening to a bird sing.  Before we lost our adorable dog Wednesday to old (old, old, old, old) age, he and my husband had a routine.  As soon as Michael got home from work, Wednesday would perk up – he always recognized the sound of his car and heard it from a mile away. Michael would put the leash on him as Wednesday wiggled around in circles of excitement.  Then off they’d go on their walk.

It was the highlight of Wednesday’s day and it seemed to help the human walker release the stress of his work day.  Who can feel stressed when connected to the other end of a leash is fur-covered happiness and joy?

Cats are just as magical when it comes to releasing stress.  They’re so laid back and peaceful and live in a state of zen. It’s contagious!  Since I work from home, I have access to my own personal little zen generators 24/7. In the picture at the top of the post, I was on the floor playing with Alexa after a pretty stressful day. I’d roll a ball underneath the love seat and she’d swat it back.  At one point, I grabbed my camera and  held onto the ball just to see what she’d do. As you can see, she peeked to see what the hold up was.

One look at her expression and it was like, “Stress? What stress?”

If you’re unable to have dogs or cats, don’t think for a minute that other pet options don’t exist!  Hamsters, guinea pigs (“piggies“), fish, turtles, chinchillas, parakeets, and frogs would also love to help you deal with stress.  A pet’s companionship, entertainment, and most of all love is just too precious to even put into words.  They give so much more than they could ever possibly take.

To read more about stress triggers, click the link.

 

 

Having Pets Can Make You Feel and Look Younger – Uh Huh, Uh Huh

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Hannah

One of my favorite websites is Prevention.com. You’ll find me skulking around its pages regularly – reading, taking notes, vowing to do this, promising to cut out that.

One of the things I love even more that great reading material is animals (Had you guessed how much I love of animals?).  So I found the following extremely interesting.  It’s from an article titled, Prevention’s Anti-Aging Guide: How to take off 10 years or more–and look and feel better than ever.

The author gives great advice on staying youthful and healthy.  The following is tip #4 and you’ll soon discover why it’s my favorite one of all.

Open up your home and heart to Rover or Boots. Owning a pet reduces the number of visits to the doctor, prolongs survival after a heart attack, and wards off depression, says James Serpell, PhD, director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. (His family has a cat, a dog, a large green iguana, a bearded dragon, and a dozen fish.)

Pet ownership also protects against a major problem of aging: high blood pressure. In one standout study at State University of New York, Buffalo, stockbrokers with high blood pressure adopted a pet. When they were faced with mental stress, their BP increased less than half as much as in their counterparts without animal pals.

We have cats, hamsters, and even two hermit crabs in our family.  I’ve been campaigning hot and heavy for another dog since ours passed away a year ago.  In fact, I think two dogs would be ideal – they could entertain one another.  I’ve used everything on my husband – how they’d make wonderful walking companions, how they’d serve as a security system, how they add to the quality of one’s life, etc.

What Prevention just did was give me another angle.  Honey…. animals are like drops from the fountain of youth.  The more you have, the younger you’ll be.

Click the link to read the entire article:  How to Take Off 10 Years or More

A Wild Saturday Night

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Bo the next day!
I know you’ve heard the phrase never a dull moment – well now you get to meet the person whose life it was coined for.

Last night this 5’2″ mother of three chased, wrestled and rolled with a pit bull. My body hurts. I wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing.  I had the first asthma attack I’d had in years and a few of my cats have post traumatic stress syndrome.

I’m a cooking in the kitchen, hanging out at the coffee shop kind of gal – decidedly not a pit bull tamer.

The dog in question – (during the ruckus I named him “Dang Dog!”) – somehow found our very quiet, fence-enclosed bird, raccoon, possum, rabbit, cat and deaf dog (little Wednesday‘s hearing isn’t what it once was) sanctuary. Normally, it’s just the 5 of us humans, a small, almost totally deaf and nearsighted, older dog and five precious cats. We have plenty of wildlife visitors but DangDog! was particularly interested in the cats.

It’s puzzling how he even got back here. We live on the outskirts of town, behind a business that’s protected by a metal, password-protected gate. He either knew the code or has discovered a LARGE hole in one of the fences.  Or he can fly.

We first saw him when a few of my girls and I got back from the store. Wednesday (our little dog) came out of the garage, par usual, to greet us. Then something par unusual happened – out came a large, muscular dog behind him. None of the cats were around at the time – and D.D. really didn’t seem interested in causing problems for Wednesday….until my smart little boy growled up at him. The pit bull wasn’t too happy about that. He was, however, happy about me – he wanted to be my best friend.

He kept standing up with his paws on my shoulders licking my face. Fortunately, of all the things I’m scared of, dogs aren’t one of them. He was a sweetheart to me and never posed a danger at all (to me).  I’m the biggest animal lover in the world and I think animals pick up on that.

But, like I said, we have 5 cats and a much smaller, disadvantaged dog, so my oldest daughter and I lured him away – on the other side of the mechanical gate. I took a package of hot dogs for him which he ate before we even got out of our driveway.

Big ol’ mouth.

I couldn’t help noticing that mouth. I finally got him on one side of the gate and me on the other…which took some doing because he was convinced that he was my dog and I was his… I dunno…. mom?

After a while, when I looked way up at the main gate, I didn’t see him – so I thought “Good, he went home.” I wanted more than anything for him to get somewhere safe – I felt for sure he was someone’s dog. He was the picture of health and wasn’t the least bit afraid of anything.  Or anyone.

So, much later I’m out in the yard in the pitch black darkness – putting Wednesday’s sweater back on him, fresh from being washed in Woolite.

I have some lovely pink pajamas and pink fuzzy house-shoes on – just in case you’re trying to picture the scene – there’s lots of pink.

I saw our smallest cat, Alexa (she was an outdoor cat at the time) in the driveway and was I walking toward her to oooh and ahhhh, tell her how beautiful she is…you know that sort of thing. Then, out of nowhere Dang Dog! comes flying at Alexa (this is where I name him) and like a scene from a nature show… or a nightmare…. he chases her, snapping at her tail. Of course, I’m running after them, in pink fuzzy house-shoes that really sort of “complete” the picture, through the wet, cold yard –  screaming his new name, which he refuses to answer to.

Off come the fuzzy shoes and my bare feet meet the cold wet ground.

I launch onto the dog’s back and down we go.  Alexa takes flight up a tree, reasoning that she still has 8 lives left.  D.D! starts licking my face – it at least lets me know I’m still alive. By now, my asthma’s pretty angry and breathing isn’t coming easily. I put my arms around his neck and try to convince him to let me help him along – to my van. I figure I’ll drive to every house within a mile and ask if they’re missing a large, cat chasing bundle of strength.

Man was this dog strong.

Just as we’re edging along in the dark, with Alexa watching from on high – another of our youngest cats, Bo,  thinks it’s the perfect time to come creeping over to see what all the fuss is about. He sees Double D at the same time Double D sees him….and wer’e off again!

Once again, the dog is right on the home team’s butt….once again I dive onto the dog’s butt and Bo propels himself up yet another tree. Thankfully, God’s a cat lover and we live in a yard with lots of trees. Bo scampers up a tree and I just lay there with everything I have TO wrap wrapped around this crazy dog.

By now, I’m totally amazed that this dog hasn’t eaten my face off yet.  He just kept licking it – and doing the paws on the shoulder thing that really didn’t amuse me much anymore. Fortunately, my husband heard the yelling from inside the house and came out to help. We put him (the dog, not the husband) into the van and off we went to find his home.

Bo and Alexa are pretty jumpy today, and I can hardly move.  Seriously, every bone in my body hurts. The knees and elbows are understandable – crashing onto a hard cold ground will do that.  The back is understandable, too, since this was a very heavy and strong dog.  But my chin?!  I don’t even remember hitting it.  Oh, well. My babies are all okay and the dog’s safe. He has quite a story to tell about a crazy cat lady with coffee on her breath and pink house-shoes.

The picture at the top of the post is Bo looking up at the tree that saved his life.  He’s nothing if not dramatic.  Alexa’s eyes seem fixed in a wide stare.  She jumps at every little sound – convinced that evil’s lurking behind each tree.  My little buddy Wednesday doesn’t seem to know anything went on – he’s pretty much in his own little. oblivious world. But I’ve given him strict orders, no more entertaining friends while were away.