Dogs are Many People’s Best Friends by Izabel Kump

They have feelings and emotions just like us. They provide emotional support, company, and a special bond. They’re the most popular pet on the planet. They are extremely smart and can learn over 100 words and gestures. The average dog’s intelligence is roughly compared to a 2.5-year-old child. They have a special sense of smell that can detect odors up to 40 times better than humans can. But when they are running, they can’t smell as well, and when they pant, it is reduced severely. Dogs can tell if you have a disease such as cancer and depression.

How similar are humans and dogs? When dogs dream, they only dream about real-life things, meaning they only see what they see in real life. Smaller dogs dream more than bigger dogs. Just like humans, dogs can have nightmares. They twitch and jump, but never wake your dog up from a dream because it might lead to an aggressive misunderstanding with the dog. Dogs sleep through half the day, and they have different stages of sleeping just like us. The stages are Wakefulness – this is when the dog is lightly awake during this stage but not enough to be fully alert. Rapid Eye Movement sleep – it’s very similar to humans in the REM sleep cycle; the canine REM cycle is when the dogs experience the most graphic dreams. The last stage is Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep – this is the light stage of sleeping. Just like us, dogs have an everyday hand/paw they use more. They can be left/right pawed; 26% of dogs use both paws equally. Also, dogs’ noses are so unique just like our fingerprints are unique to us.

Some dogs have a really strong bond with their owners. Bonding with your dog benefits us in many ways; they give us more than serotonin. Being around a dog can lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and provide many other health benefits. Staring into your dog’s eyes can raise your level of oxytocin, better known as the “love hormone.” Dogs get you up and moving, which can benefit you more in the future because they can increase your lifespan. They boost your happy hormones and help lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, easing depression and improving your fitness. Dogs take care of us just as much as we take care of them. They are great medical assistants who help people who are blind, deaf, diabetic, and people with epilepsy.

A dog’s companionship helps people develop a daily routine and gives them something to look forward to each day. Studies show that owning a dog reduces stress, alleviates anxiety, and can prolong a human’s lifespan. Dogs are constantly focusing their attention on their humans. Humans and dogs form a mutually beneficial relationship. Dogs provide protection, hunting assistance, and companionship to humans, while humans provide food, shelter, and care for them. Dogs are super observant; they notice how people interact with one another and can sense hostility and negativity, as well as happiness and kindness exhibited by humans around them.