BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Stress Management My dogs help me to release stress

i have 2 pomeranian and 1 lhasa apso and they are adorable, very sweet and smart. they help me release stress / relax when i think of a lot of things. How bout you guys?

My cats, the female especially, do the trick for me. Smokey seems to sense when I am uptight and she puts her paws on my lap and pats my knee, asking to be picked up. When I start to cuddle her I can feel my heartbeat slow down and my breathing relax.

When I got divorced, I got a dog for me and the kids and he's been a wonderful addition to our family. I think he really helped the kids in this situation and me too! Plus he's a good guard dog.

I went to the Humane Society and got a dog about 2 years old as I didn't want to deal with the puppy stuff and I wanted a dog I knew already would be calm and good with the kids.

I also think animals are great for relieving stress. We have a pom/sheltie mix, a lab mix and a chihuaua mix - and they are all so loveable.

I love how the tiny dogs love to be in my lap, and I love how my lab loves to put her big ol' head on my knee and get her ears rubbed.

I LOVE my pets.

I agree with you. All of my animals help me relieve stress. I have dogs, cats, poultry, rabbits, goats and a horse. They all have different ways of helping my relieve stress - from brushing them, to petting them to working with them.
Aren't animals great?

Sheri

I have 3 dogs so sometimes they CAUSE me stress but for the most part I've found they are wonderful for helping with stress. For one thing I walk all three every day so that helps for sure.

I have 3 cats too and one esp is a sweet little guy who loves to sit on my lap.

I love having an animal cuddled in my lap. Right now I'm sitting on the couch, and my new wee dog is cuddled up on an afghan next to me with her head snuggled in my lap. Though the second I put the lap top aside, she'll get her whole self in my lap I'm sure LOL.

Hello!

Our dog is now four years old. We got him as a puppy, and for the first year or so, he was ALL puppy, lol!

Sometimes it was cute, and often it was "How can he still have this much energy--I'm ready for bed"...

However, when we just three months old, my husband had some pretty major medical tests. Once he got home from the hospital our "wild, wild puppy" became this calm, gentle creature around my husband. He gave puppy kisses to the area around my husband's arm where the IV had been in, and was so wonderful to him. I was thinking, "Ok, clearly someone has come in and replaced my puppy with this one."

I've always been a huge dog lover, but never knew how wonderful wild, out of control puppies could be at times, or how they 'sensed' when something wasn't quiet right.

Talk about stress relief!

Dogs are very intelligent and also very sensitive to our feelings. Sometimes, just a look between you and your dog sends a message - they can sense our moods and know when we need extra love.

My dog actually increases my stress. My cat on the other hand decreases it. So I guess you can say they balance one another out.

Sometimes my dogs cause me stress too... This morning at 4am I could hear our new dog walking around. I just knew she was up to something (pooing) so I had to get up, clean up that mess, take her outside. Then my other two dogs wanted out, so I had to wait for them. It was 20 minutes before I got back in bed, then I was so amped, I couldn't fall asleep for about 40 minutes UGh!

Haha, that's funny Moe. I never thought I'd actually hear someone confess to that one. My dog stresses me out too, cute as she may be. My husband's dog, well, he's like an extension of the husband so you can figure that one out. But my kitty, he's my best buddy. He doesn't smell funny, he doesn't shed a whole lot (he's a siamese), and he loves to sit peacefully on my lap just as he is doing now. My dog prefers to use my lap as a jungle gym and lick me all over. While this is cute and all, I have to be in the right mood for hyper. Our dogs are fun, they are cute, they motivate us to go on walks, but I dunno if I can ever credit them as stress relievers.

I can say despite my German Shepherd's little quirks in personality and how she likes to push my buttons from time to time, I would be pretty lonely without her. When I'm having a really bad day, she is the one thing that can help me to relax as she always seems to know when something is wrong with me or when I'm sad.

Sadly my last pet died years ago. When I was ready for another it was not a good time and it still is not. An animal sure would help me but I refuse to bring an innocent life in this hell that is my life. I will adopt an animal when my life won't be a hell anymore.