Valerie-taiylor Williams

ENG 102

January 31, 2019

Ms. Barnes

Can Dogs Make Us Happy?

When I am sad or feeling down I usually like to lay in my bed and seclude myself. I just

lay there sometimes and think about things that went wrong or what issues im going through at

the moment. I feel all this heavy on my heart or in my head and then all the sudden my dog

walks into my room and jumps on my bed and lays next to me. He lets me pet him and hold him

which makes those feelings of sadness pause and I feel this love and support from an animal that

does not even talk. I sit and wonder can he sense my sadness which makes him want to make me

happier? Is that his undercover job description?

I've heard people say that dogs can sense human happiness and sadness so I finally asked

the question, does having companionship with a pet makes people more happy. I dug into some

research to see if this theory was actually a true thing.I started to look up “can dogs feel human

happiness” and clicked an article with a title of “Dogs Can Read Human Emotions” by Matthew

Stock. The first sentence reads “​Many dog owners believe their pets are able to pick up on their

moods, but scientists have demonstrated once and for all that man’s best friend can actually

recognize emotions in humans”(Stock). Well that answers the first part of my question. I have

always felt that dogs could feel our pain and our happiness. One time I was sick and I was not

feeling good and my dog wanted to play with me but I was really not in the mood and I felt like

he noticed and stopped jumping around everywhere and just laid down next to me. It's like he
could sense I was sick or something. The more I read the more answers I got. The text also said

that they ran multiple tests on the dogs like showing dogs pictures of a human showing emotions

and a sound to match to see whether the dog can distinguish between happy and sad. The test

proved that dogs can distinguish human emotions which brings me to my next question.

If dogs can distinguish human emotions then what else could dogs bring to the table for

human happiness?Then I typed in “does having companionship with a dog makes you more

happy?” I believe this is true because dogs are the most precious things to hit this earth and

humans do not deserve dogs but I had to find research to back it up. When I looked it up, I didn't

even have to scroll down the page to see my answer which said yes. I clicked on an article called

“Why Do Dogs Make Us Happy” by author unknown(website: Pets for Patriots) which explained

the scientific reason on why dogs make us happy. Research says that “Studies have shown that

even small interactions with dogs cause the human brain to produce ​oxytocin​, a hormone often

referred to as the “cuddle chemical.” Oxytocin increases feelings of relaxation, trust, and

empathy while reducing stress and anxiety.” (unknown, website: Pets for Patriots). If dogs can

make us produce a “happy drug” that makes us feel better in a sense, it proves the theory i'm

researching true. I also clicked on another article from Psychology Today titled, “Friends with

Benefits: Pets Make Us Happier, Healthier” by Allen R McConnell Ph.D. to get more

information. This article also says that research shows that “pets provide meaningful support for

their owners” and can “improve their lives”(McConnell Ph. D.).

Overall all the research I have looked up has basically been on the same page saying that

having a dog or a companion will make you happier with life as a whole. I have always felt like

this was true but I never did any research on it or dug deeper into it. This topic is important to me
because I have always felt that being mentally happy was very important. I just feel like our

generation is more depressed than generations that came before us because of all this new

technology like smartphones and social media that we have. So maybe getting a fluffy new

friend that is actually real in person and not on a screen would be beneficial to anybody because

of all the health benefits like lower anxiety and stress relief a pet would bring. Some Days I

struggle and all I want to do is crawl in bed and lay by myself and exclude myself from the

world. But having a dog makes the healing process of an awful day or even a bad break up feel a

little bit better and it makes you not feel alone.

 Work cited page

Case, S., Strino, R., Keegan, Eaton, M., Ferrier, G., & Smaldone, J. A. (2017, September 11).

Why do dogs make us happy? Retrieved from

https://www.petsforpatriots.org/dogs-make-us-happy/

Stock, M. (2016, February 16). Dogs can read human emotions. Retrieved from

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dogs-emotions/dogs-can-read-human-emotions-idUSKCN0V

P1DH

Friends with Benefits: Pets Make Us Happier, Healthier. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-social-self/201107/friends-benefits-pets-make-us-

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