100 Simple Secrets Why Dogs Make Us Happy: The Science Behind What Dog Lovers Already Know

by David Niven PhD

Overview

Why do people who have dogs live happier, longer, and more fulfulling lives? Sociologists and veterinarians have spent years investigating the positive effects that dogs have on people's health and happiness yet their findings are inaccessible to ordinary people, hidden in obscure journals to be shared with other experts.

Now the international bestselling author of the 100 Simple Secrets series has collected the most current and significant data from more than a thousand of the best scientific studies on the profound relationship between humans and our canine companions. These findings have been boiled down to the one hundred essential ways dogs positively impact our lives. Each fact is accompanied by a inspiring true story. If you love your dog, and science tells us that you do, this book will inspire and entertain.

Communicate Better: It sounds odd to say a creature that communicates with barking and body language can have such a profound effect on human communication. But by providing a common point of reference and concern, dogs help us to feel a connection to other humans. That connection makes us feel more comfortable communicating with each other. When meeting a new person, the presence of a dog reduces the time before people feel comfortable while talking with each other by 45 percent.

Live Longer: There is perhaps no better gift that dogs offer us humans than this simple fact. People who care for a dog live longer, healthier lives than those who do not. On average, people who cared for dogs during their lives lived 3 years longer than people who never had a dog.

No Monkey Business: Primates are genetically more similar to humans than any other creature. But try to tell a chimpanzee something and you will be hard pressed to get your message across. Dogs are uniquely attuned to the messages we send. Dogs study humans and have evolved to build social skills that help them to function around us. Dogs are 52 percent more likely to follow human cues such as pointing toward a source of food than are primates.

Around the Block: Good habits are often misunderstood as difficult or unpleasant chores. But there is tremendous value in the simple act of taking a walk. Walking not only burns calories, it also decreases stress. Having a dog means regularly talking walks – it's something you do for your dog but in truth your dog is doing for you. Dog owners walk 79 percent farther in an average week than non–dog owners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060858827
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/24/2007
Series:	100 Simple Secrets , #6
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 6.25(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

David Niven, Ph.D., bestselling author of the 100 Simple Secrets series, is a psychologist and social scientist who teaches at Ohio State University.

David Niven, Ph.D., es el autor de los bestsellers internacionales Los 100 Secretos de la Gente Exitosa, y Los 100 Secretos de las Buenas Relaciones. Es psicólogo y científico social, y enseña en la Florida Atlantic University.

Read an Excerpt

100 Simple Secrets Why Dogs Make Us Happy
The Science Behind What Dog Lovers Already Know

Chapter One

Dogs Have Personality

Human personalities are one of the aspects of our existence that make us interesting. We don't all react the same way to the same situation—and that very uniqueness can come to define who we are. In this, we are very much like dogs. Dogs may be feisty or friendly or fearless or phobic, but they are who they are.

When Erica took her dog Odie in to audition for the "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment on The David Letterman Show, the coordinator told her why the show has featured so many dogs and so few cats.

"Dogs have personality," he told her. "They really interact with you and can make a connection. Cats, on the other hand, are pretty much indifferent. It's hard to get a reaction out of them."

That was hardly a problem for Odie. Although Erica has no explanation for it, Odie responds when she says, "I love you, Odie."

Odie barks out a very human-sounding "I ruv you."

It was nothing Erica had taught Odie to do—he just did it.

The trick sparked the interest of the Letterman producers, and Erica and Odie appeared on the show a few weeks later. Odie's bark of love was so amazing that it was later voted one of the most memorable tv moments of the year.

While she doesn't know where this talent came from, Erica knows that Odie loves the attention. "After we'd been on the show, everybody we saw would stop us and talk to Odie. He was in heaven."

Personality tests show that dogs are as likely as humans to demonstrate consistent personalitytraits. (Gosling, Kwan, and John 2003)

100 Simple Secrets Why Dogs Make Us Happy
The Science Behind What Dog Lovers Already Know. Copyright © by David Niven. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.