Your Doctor will See you Now

While we know our furry friends are brilliant companions, Dr John Bradshaw finds out if they could actually be making us healthier too.

DOGS: the universal stress-buster. That’s the claim increasingly made for ‘man’s best friend’ as dogs find their way into all kinds of unexpected medical situations. Last year, my own institution, the University of Bristol, teamed up with the Guide Dogs charity to offer stressed students a puppy play session. This was by no means the first of its kind: more than a thousand universities have put animal visitation programmes into place to help students. At Bristol University, the 600 slots quickly filled up. Yet the students’ enthusiasm is supported by research. In one study, after as little as seven minutes’ interaction with a friendly dog, students reported significantly less anxiety and greater feelings of contentment. Viewing a slideshow of the same dog for the same length of time had no effect on their mood. It seems that actually stroking and playing with the dog is crucial. Sorry, YouTube.

As well as stress, dogs are widely touted as a panacea for all kinds of ills such as high blood pressure, loneliness, heart disease and depression, to name but a few. A quick search of the internet will reveal countless articles extolling the health benefits of keeping pets. Some of these claims are supported by science, others remain to be investigated thoroughly, while a few seem to be little more than wishful thinking. So what does canine companionship really offer?