The Power of a Pooch

At a young age, my two sons made a key discovery. They realized our cockapoo puppy, Clover, was not fully capable of taking care of herself.

Our newest family member had to be fed, walked, and bathed. She needed us to look after her, play with her, cuddle her, make sure she had a warm, comfortable place to sleep and that she stayed healthy. Although we had had cats in our household before we ever got a dog, it was really with Clover, our sweet, tail-wagging pup, that the boys developed a nurturing instinct.

Dogs are great at helping children learn empathy and responsibility.

It is clear that dogs help kids learn empathy and responsibility in a myriad of ways. As most parents in this situation know, the experience is rich and rewarding.

Sure, there’s work involved, not to mention the cost, the energy, and the potential damage to things like sofas, chairs, socks, hats, beds and just about anything else a four-legged creature can chew, bite or scratch. But pets, in the long run, teach children about the needs of others. And it is critical, according to Dr. Marty Becker, a veterinarian and the author of more than 20 popular books on animal care, to match the right responsibility for a pet to a child’s age.

“I always recommend that the primary responsibility for pets stays with parents and that the role of children in caring for their animals be matched with what’s appropriate for the children’s ages,” he told Vet Street.

Older children can handle harder tasks, and some will relish the chance to take on more in caring for their pets. Encourage them in their grown-up behavior.

“In other words, don’t expect a first-grader to remember to refill a water dish every day. Older children can handle harder tasks, and some will relish the chance to take on more in caring for their pets. Encourage them in their grown-up behavior.”

In addition to empathy, here are four other benefits children gain when they have a dog in their life, no matter the size, breed, gender or personality of their pet:

Dogs teach unconditional love. Pets don’t need a reason to listen and they never criticize, Becker said. “Growing up can be difficult, and many times children just need to talk and be listened to,” he said.

“There’s nothing better for that than a purring cat or a tail-wagging dog. To pets, children are perfect just the way they are.”

Kids whose families have dogs were less likely to have problems with their weight, among other issues.

Dogs help fight obesity. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in young kids and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many children don’t get enough exercise for a whole range of reasons. Diet plays a role as well. A recent Australian study, however, found that kids who grow up around dogs are less likely to have issues with their weight.

“Dog ownership was associated with, on average, 29 more minutes of walking and 142 more minutes of physical activity per week,” researchers from the University of Western Australia in Perth noted. “Children with a dog were 49 percent more likely to achieve the recommended level of weekly physical activity (420 minutes) and 32 percent more likely to have walked in their neighborhood in the last week, compared with non-dog owners.”

Infants raised in a home with two or more dogs or cats were up to 77 percent less likely to develop allergies at age 6 than children raised without pets.

Dogs help fight allergies. Small children who grow up in families with pets experience a lower frequency of pet allergies in their later years, several studies have shown, including one by allergist Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, of the University of Virginia, along with Swedish researchers. Another study found that infants raised in a home with two or more dogs or cats were up to 77 percent less likely to develop allergies at age 6 than children raised without pets, Web MD reported.

“Besides pet allergies, those children were less likely to develop reactions to dust mites, ragweed, and grass,” the study showed.

Dogs may help improve grades. Sound farfetched? Consider that kids with pets “have an advantage when it comes to science, in part because they enter school with observations of animals that give them a foundation on which to build,” veterinarian Becker explained to Vet Street.

“And children who practice reading to dogs — a popular program nationwide — improve their reading skills dramatically because dogs listen without criticism or correction and encourage interaction.”