{"id":1948,"date":"2019-12-20T07:25:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T07:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2019-12-21T05:26:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T05:26:21","slug":"for-the-love-of-dogs-how-dogs-can-improve-your-life-and-give-you-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/for-the-love-of-dogs-how-dogs-can-improve-your-life-and-give-you-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"For the love of dogs: how dogs can improve your life and give you joy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" title=\"FOR THE LOVE OF DOGS: HOW DOGS CAN IMPROVE YOUR LIFE AND GIVE YOU JOY \" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/media\/player\/qvqf9-cbf3f0?from=usersite&amp;skin=1&amp;share=1&amp;fonts=Helvetica&amp;auto=0&amp;download=1&amp;version=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"122\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\">Does your dog love you? Research shows that it probably does. In one study, they showed dogs how to open a box, then put the dog\u2019s owner in the box. When the owner screamed for help, the majority of dogs went to the rescue. In another study, the brain of dogs had more activity in their reward centers when they were close to their owner\u2014even more than when they had food in front of them.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, your dog may cuddle and lick you when you\u2019re feeling down\u2014a loving feeling if there ever was one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\">Of course, not everyone loves dogs, but it you\u2019ve thought about getting one, here are some good reasons to put a Fido into your life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\"><strong>*Increase Your Mindfulness:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The dog can teach you how to live in the moment.\u00a0\u00a0Forever smelling everything in their way, dogs can teach you to \u201cslow down and smell the roses\u201d\u2014to be aware of your body and all the sensations you\u2019re feeling;\u00a0to relax and take time out of your busy schedule to appreciate the beauty of life.\u00a0Relaxation and feelings of joy and well-being will follow when you live in the moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\"><strong>*Improve Your Physical Health<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0Being around a dog can reduce your stress, lower your blood pressure, and improve your cholesterol levels. It can even help you recover quicker from a heart attack. And, walking a dog will give you needed exercise\u2014studies show that dog owners take 2700 more steps daily, which translates to nearly \u00bd hours of exercise daily.\u00a0\u00a0Walk your dog and live healthier.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\"><strong>*Improve Your Mood<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0The affection and companionship dogs provide have been shown to reduce depression and anxiety, and increase feelings of well-being, comfort, and meaning. Lonely and depressed people feel better when they have a dog. Instead of being stuck in their own negative thoughts, they can focus their attention outwardly on their furry friend\u2014playing with them, taking care of them, and receiving love in return.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\"><strong>*Give You Unconditional Love<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0Dogs offer the rarest of gifts: Love without conditions.\u00a0\u00a0They love you no matter what\u2014even if you put them in the doghouse for a while. Also, being around a dog increases the presence of the love bonding hormone\u2014oxytocin\u2014in both you and the dog.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Through the power of touch\u2014caressing and hugging your dog\u2014you will have more of these feel-good chemicals in your brain and experience the warm feeling of being close to another creature who loves you back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\">Yes, dogs can be smelly, messy, and require a lot of time, money, and energy. But, the payoffs of dog ownership are more than worth the investment you make.\u00a0\u00a0If you choose the right dog for you and take care of it in the way you need to (plenty of attention and exercise), you and the dog will benefit greatly\u2014physically, emotionally, and psychologically. After all, they say, it\u2019s a dog\u2019s world, and we\u2019re just living in it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\">IF YOU HAVE A PICTURE OR STORY OF YOUR \u201cPSYCHOLGICAL DOG\u201d \u2013HOW YOUR DOG HAS HELPED YOU EMOTIONALLY, PLEASE SHARE.\u00a0\u00a0THE TOP \u201cPSYCHOLOGICAL DOG STORY\u201d WILL WIN 2 FREE DINNERS AT YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT. WRITE TO US AT\u00a0LOVEUNIVERSITYLOVE@GMAIL.COM<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: left;\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/loveuniversity.podbean.com\/e\/for-the-love-of-dogs-how-dogs-can-improve-your-life-and-give-you-joy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>FOR THE LOVE OF DOGS: HOW DOGS CAN IMPROVE YOUR LIFE AND GIVE YOU JOY.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does your dog love you? Research shows that it probably does. In one study, they showed dogs how to open a box, then put the dog\u2019s owner in the box&#8230; <span class=\"read_more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/for-the-love-of-dogs-how-dogs-can-improve-your-life-and-give-you-joy\/\">Read more<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1955,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions\/1955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveuniversity.love\/testsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}