Next I will post the article in full.
First the link...
http://voices.yahoo.com/pets-they-help-us-241013.html?cat=53
And now the article, this article I wrote for free, unless I get a huge number of page views.
"Pets: How Do They Help Us?"
What are the benefits to owning a pet?
Also for someone who lives alone having a pet can also provide a sense of security.
If someone has a pet dog for instance knowing that their dog will bark if someone comes up in the yard or to the door can help an older person feel more secure.
For that matter this can help anyone feel more secure.
Also having an inside dog can have some added benefits if you have children. That you may not have thought of.
For instance when our youngest child was about one year old we lived in a very large older home on a very busy street.
Well one particular night after everyone went to bed, our youngest child decided that it would be a great idea to go outside in the middle of the night, to continue catching fireflies as he had been doing before bedtime.
(This was by no means a great idea but very young children do not always think clearly on what is good or not good for them, especially when it's a matter of wants).
So anyway, on this particular night after everyone had went to bed our youngest child got up, and woke up his older brother (his brother being all of 15 months older) so as you can see maturity was a big issue on this night.
Now remember I said we lived in a very large home at this time. The house was two stories and the bedrooms were all upstairs.
Thankfully, at this time we did have an inside dog. She was a border collie and because of her our two youngest children were not able to go outside as they planned.
What happened was this when our two darling toddlers got up to go outside, are pet dog also got up. She followed our children down stairs.
When she figured out that our two sons were going to try to go outside while everyone else was asleep, at night, our dog sat down in front of the door.
(At that time our sons were about equal in weight to this dog, and this particular dog was pretty smart.)
She knew that one and two year old children did not have any business outside at that time of day. So she sat down blocking them.
We were woke up because that our two boys were trying to "talk" our dog into moving, and when their daddy came down stairs to find out what the noise at the front door was, he discovered that our pet dog was laying in front of the door, and not allowing the boys outside. She even growled at them a couple of times when they tried to pick her up to move her.
Because of her our two toddlers were prevented from going outside at night.
Also when someone came to the door in the middle of the night she would bark and let us know.
Having a good pet dog as an inside pet is a good idea if you have toddlers who may decide to go outside at night, especially if you live along a busy highway.
Having an inside dog can have the added benefits of acting as a deterrent to someone who may want to come in, uninvited.
Another benefit of having a pet is that you have a built in walking companion. And this can help you to maintain a walking schedule for your health.
Having a pet cat also has many benefits one being that rats and mice do not like cats and are less likely to find your home as inviting with a cat around.
Petting cats can also help some people to be more relaxed which can help to keep their blood pressure a little lower.
Having pets can have many benefits for many people but if you are allergic to animals then you may be better off with a pet such as a fish or several fish.
Having pet fish can add a relaxing element to your home. But you will not have the same benefits as someone who has a pet dog or cat.
It is highly unlikely you will ever hear that a pet fish prevented someone from breaking into a home, or prevented a wandering toddler from going outside. But as far as providing a way to relax in your home as you look at the fish, this may be a very good benefit.
Being able to relax at the end of the day is a good way to help maintain your health.
Pets, can help us in many ways. Sometimes the only real help we receive from our pets is companionship. When we talk to ourselves we may feel silly, but when we talk to our pets we feel like we have a confidant someone that will listen to us even when we are just complaining. Even though are pets are just animals because they love us or at least act as if they do we may feel more at ease talking any problems over with our pets at the end of the day, than calling up someone to chat or even talking to a counselor.
And sometimes all we really need to do is talk thru a problem to figure out how to solve it.
Having a pet can give us a way to work thru personal problems without the embarrassment of going to a person who may be more inclined to give us an opinion than really help us.
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