Dogs are good for your health: ... - Cure Parkinson's
Dogs are good for your health
My daughter’s golden retriever brought us hours of pleasure and companionship over the last ten years. My husband used to walk for miles with him before and after his PD diagnosis. He spent holidays with us and we saw him most days and frequently he took us out for a walk with him. He was a fabulous family dog,
Unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer earlier this year and everybody has felt the terrible loss.
Yes goldens are the best, perfect mix of personality and friendliness. Wonderfully not stressful and just a fountain of joy, and above all, manageable. Our Samoyed is also extremely wonderful, but definitely not stress-free, quite 180° the opposite! Because of her loving spunkiness, energy, and complete UNtrustworthiness, we have learned the value of manageability!! She keeps trying to herd us and the cats.
If we had the room in the ability to fence I would get a second, a German Shepherd Dog.
Yes it's a terrible loss.. the only cure I know of is to just find a replacement. Rescue dogs make wonderful pets.
Yes - rescue if you can. We lost our previous 2 GSDs within a year (aged 13 +12). Louis came to us at 3 years old. His previous owner died of cancer. Mind, we nearly bit off more than we could chew. He is my 6th rescue dog and by a long way the most challenging. GSDs with serious behavioral problems are big scary dogs. Make sure you know what you are taking on. But if you choose well it is so rewarding. Louis is just gorgeous now 😍
Our daughter’s dog was just a joy, she got him just before her son was born and it was such a special time for the whole family. He was friendly, loyal, playful and we all loved him unconditionally.
We lost him at 9 years quite young for a golden retriever. No replacements at the moment. My daughter trained to look after guide dogs with respite care, and did that for a while. Now she has a full time job so won’t have a dog as she doesn’t want to leave him alone all day.
Hubby loves dogs. When we visit people with dogs, he'll call out to the dog to pet. A dog would be good company for him.
The other side of the coin is I would be the one to feed, walk, and make sure the dog doesn't get underfoot of hubby (high fall risk).
Love the pictures being posted!!!!
One of the (many) benefits is that the pwp does the dog walking.
Yes, if the PWP can walk without a walker or without a cane. Holding onto a leash and having the dog pull at all would mean a fall.
For those with PWP and can walk a dog - enjoy enjoy enjoy. In the meantime, my hubby will enjoy dogs when we visit others who own a dog.
We have never been without a dog over the years. When Charles (amazing dog) died I vowed no more dogs! However 5 years ago we rescued Bella, a tiny JackChi with attitude who thinks she is a Rottweiler and Bruno a Jack Russell who adores children and hates dogs. My hwp is bed/chair bound so Bella and Bruno make him smile and keep him warm daily, so good. On the other side of the coin to add to your list they are demanding dogs, hooligans when out for a walk, shout at other dogs even when the dogs are on their own property. Bruno chases dogs when off the lead on the beach., understandably some owner don’t like it ! Bella likes regular exercise, mainly sniffing and weeing …stops..move 5 paces…sniff and wee etc. They look forward to me coming back from shopping to raid the bags for their treats and them stare at me for the next course of entertainment. I do love them though but definable no more dogs in this house !
Unforgivable, how could I forget my loyal four-legged friend in my list of PD inhibitors. I adopted her from a Turkish shelter 6 years ago because she desperately wanted to be petted and got her paws stuck in the wire mesh. Due to this quirk, I believe she is the perfect PD dog with an insatiable cuddle factor!
This positive effect of petting your pet is not explicitly mentioned in your article, yet it appears to have the most impact alongside the numerous positive physical effects. A deficiency in oxytocin is associated with various symptoms, including Parkinson's. Similar to a massage, prayer, dancing, using social media, masturbation, and achieving orgasm, petting dogs stimulates the production of the cuddle hormone oxytocin.
I almost owned a dog when I brought in a lovely cute stray dog. I was able to form a very strong bond with him before he was taken away. He was always rolling over demanding a scratch and never wanted to be taken away
The problem with dogs is they tend to DIE after 12 or 14 years. Cats might be a better choice. They die at similar ages but never much cared about you anyway. You were just movable furniture to a cat. I was a veterinarian for 40 years. And had to put thousands of pets to sleep. It was always surprising how they sometimes blamed me.
But you can't walk a cat, so you loose the movement and exercise advantage. Also cats are not loyal to you. Yes you get emotional when you loose dogs, but that's also part of the joy and can always get another dog anyway
I 100% agree, Marc and I miss mine very much!
Art