Opinion: We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.
Who made the first moves toward friendship, humans or dogs?
Posted on 07/04/2016 4:47:27 PM PDT by blam
Simone Scully
July 4, 2016
On the Monday after the Orlando mass shooting, 12 specially trained golden retrievers arrived in Florida to do what they do best: provide comfort.
The dogs are part of the K-9 Comfort Dog Team, a program run by the Lutheran Church Charities that now has 130 dogs in 23 states across the country. The dogs — all golden retrievers — deploy as part of the organization's disaster response team.
Each dog was picked as a puppy because of its calm demeanor, and each one was trained to be gentle, comforting, and affectionate. They all do this without barking, jumping, or getting distracted by events and noises around them.
In Orlando last week, the animals visited hospitals and churches, attended vigils and memorial services, and met with the staff of Pulse, the nightclub where the shooting occurred, The New York Times reports. These same dogs were in Boston after the marathon bombing and in Sandy Hook after the elementary school shooting. When there is no national crisis, the dogs work six days a week making the rounds at schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.
How the dogs help
Numerous studies have shown that dogs are special in their ability to affect human emotions, moods, and stress. Research even suggests that they have biological effects on us, elevating the levels of the hormone oxytocin, sometimes referred to as "the love hormone," which plays an important role in attachment forming and bonding.
"Dogs have an incredible bond with people," Dr. Brian Hare, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Duke University and host of the new DogSmarts podcast," told Business Insider. "Just by making eye contact with dogs, we have an increase in oxytocin. This makes dogs incredibly valuable for people under any kind of stress, or recovering from trauma."
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Opinion: We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.
Who made the first moves toward friendship, humans or dogs?
I have never known an even halfway tolerable human being who wasn't also a "dog person." This has proved itself, time and time again throughout the many long years of my life, as the single most accurate and unfailing barometer of another person's essential soundness and decency possible, end of sentence, end of paragraph.
Any man or woman who doesn't love dogs is no friend of mind, nor ever will be.
Tear jerker
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NuOCeJSQCTs
Another way to spell comfort: golden retriever.
Last sentence I agree w/ 100%!!!!
I just had to bury my Border Collie...named Jet. He died today.......
Prayers. It’s not easy.
Thanks.
He was a prince of a dog....very sweet, but sort of aloof.
He was different.
So sorry to hear that my FRiend.
So sorry Osage. Btdt. Loving prayers for you and jet
“Another way to spell comfort: golden retriever.”
Throughout my 60+ years I have had or been around many dogs but nothing compares to our Golden Retriever.
I don’t know how there can be so much love in one being.
When she is gone there will be another Golden in our lives.
Sorry. Had a BC for 12 yrs. very tough when it’s time to part. Always will be part of the family. Remember the good times
Border collies tend to be amazing. More smarts than the average dog. I wouldn’t have guessed aloof, but as you say, he was his own guy, unique.
It just takes time...sometimes, a lot of it.
So sorry to hear that. It’s so hard to lose a good friend. My condolences as a person that has lost quite a few in 56 years. It’s awful.
Oh dear, I’m so sorry. My heart goes out to you...I’ve done it myself more than once and it’s a sorrow like no other.
My prayers for your comfort and peace...
Godspeed, dear Jet.
I am so sorry.
I think it was Will Rogers who said, "if dogs don't go to heaven, then I want to go where the dogs go."
So very sorry for your loss.
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