Our Most Forgotten Asset Canines for Medical use

Problem

For most of the human existence we have been plagued with disease, infection, parasites, injury and now CANCER.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century most people died in the United States and much of the Western World due to infectious diseases. These were diseases like typhoid fever, influenza, small pox, tuberculosis, yellow fever and cholera.

While these causes of death are still prominent in many developing countries, they are no longer concerns in the first world.

Problem

We now focus most of our medical attention and resource on DEGENERATIVE DISEASES that silently plague the world.

Degenerative diseases are those in which the body begins attacking itself. The body becomes out of balance and in its attempt to correct this imbalance it begins to destroy itself.

Western medicine has done very little to address the causes of degenerative diseases and still battles these diseases as if they were infectious diseases. HELP ONCE YOU HAVE IT, NOT PREVENTION OF IT.

The REAL Problem

If you look into the leading cause of disease in our day one thing will come up…

STRESS

Stress has been proven time and time again that it is what causes ailments in a lot cases, and if it isn’t the leading cause it is playing a huge role in the battle/recovery against it.

ATTACK THE PROBLEM

Why aren’t we attacking the problem at the source instead of trying to find a cure for something that has already infected and debilitated the patient?

Why aren’t we pushing our patients and the public passionately to be more involved in stress relieving activities and health promoting hobbies like yoga, exercise, meditation and others?

It is because both the medical staff and the people they are helping are more focused on curing problems not preventing them from happening.

I DON’T BLAME THEM… BROTHAS GOTTA MAKE MONEY AND CHANGING PEOPLE ISN’T THERE JOB!

THE ASSET (DOGS)

One of the most forgotten assets to our health, stress relief and our fight against disease is the implication of animals and more specifically dogs in our fight.

QUESITON: HOW MANY OF US LOVE, OWN, OR WISH YOU COULD OWN A DOG AND WHY?

I know what you are thinking, that I’m some huge dog activist and cry when I think about dogs in the pound or being put down… Well I’m not by any means. I’m someone that just sees an opportunity to better the quality of life for so many people.

STRESS

Now, I realize the prevention of all stress is almost impossible but I know that a therapy dog instead of a prescription drug is a better means of stress management in a lot of cases.

I’m not saying that prescription drugs are bad by any means, but they are not the only solution to the problem of which most doctors emulate.

Eustress and Distress

Eustress = good stress Exercise, school, something that activates your

sympathetic nervous system through a positive and beneficial activity

Distress = Bad stress trauma, abuse, money, life, etc. – negative

provoking factor

Dogs not only help us manage DISTRESS but promote EUSTRESS.

Psyological Bulletin

“Consistent with human research suggesting that stress may influence the carcinogenic process, data from infrahuman experiments have revealed that aversive insults may potentiate or inhibit tumorigenicity, with nature of the change dependent on psychological, experiential, and organismic variables. Exacerbation of tumor growth is evident following acute exposure to uncontrollable but not controllable stress, and the effects of aversive stimuli vary as a function of prior stress history and social housing conditions. The fact that stress influences neurochemical, hormonal, and immunological functioning and that these changes are subject to many of the same manipulations that influenced the carcinogenic process suggests a relation between these 3 mechanisms and the stress-induced alterations of tumor growth. This contention is supported by findings showing that pharmacological manipulations that modify these endogenous substrates have predictable effects on tumorigenesis.” (Psyological Bulletin. 1981)

ALL IM SAYIN IS…

All I am trying to say is that the application of a therapy dog in someone’s life could prevent so much stress, IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE and potentially prevent ailments.

Therapy Dogs International, Inc.

Just to drive the nail that much deeper, Therapy Dogs International, Inc. published a study titled “Perception of the Impact of Pet Therapy on Residents/Patients and Staff on Facilities Visited by Therapy Dogs”

They asked questions in the survey like: Whether facilities would like to increase the frequency of Therapy Dog visits? What were the benefits to clients from Therapy Dog visits with a list of answers? What are the other possible benefits not listed in the previous question about the benefits? Were there any benefits to staff from Therapy Dog visits, if there where any recommendations for improvement for the Therapy Dog program, and if there were any unexpected or negative effects of the Therapy dog Program?

A Few of the Results

100% wanted the dogs to come back

50% of the facilities wanted more visits

They saw almost 90% increase in patients of verbalization, socialization, and positive mood alterations amongst many other positives not listed in the answer options.

74% of employees said it reduces stress and increases moral, the only recommendations were either more time, more visits, or more dogs per visit.

The only unexpected or negative effects where delusions of patients/residents owning the dog or being afraid of the dogs and that was in less than 5% of all cases.

Conclusion

What I’m trying to say is that we have an asset that can improve lives and we aren’t using it to its full advantage.

It’s basically free labor!!! (after they are trained)

How many dogs are there that we could put to work that are just sitting in a cage, and how many more jobs would this provide us in training and taking these dogs to improve the quality of life of those in medical and long term care facilities?

Think about it…

Citations

Adamle, Kathleen N, Tracy A Riley, and Tracey Carlson. "Evaluating College

Student Interest In Pet Therapy." Journal Of American College Health: J Of ACH 57.5 (2009): 545-548. MEDLINE. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.’

Burras, Jon. The Five Leading Causes Of Death In The United States. 2006 PDF file.

Dogs Decoded. Dir. Dan Child. Nova. Dogs Decoded Additional Material © 2010 WGBH Educational Foundation. 2010. Film.

J Scott Weese, et al. "Characteristics Of Programs Involving Canine Visitation Of

Hospitalized People In Ontario." Infection Control And Hospital Epidemiology: The Official Journal Of The Society Of Hospital Epidemiologists Of America 27.7 (2006): 754-758. MEDLINE. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.

Citations

Lemonick, Michael D., and Deirdre van Dyk. "The Mother Of All Dogs." Time 160.23 (2002): 78. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.Mukherjee, P, and R Makker. "Canine Visit! In ICU?." Anaesthesia 66.3 (2011): 230-231. MEDLINE. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.

Therapy Dogs International, Inc. Perceptions of the Impact of Pet Therapy on Residents/Patients and Staff in facilities Visited by Therapy Dogs. PDF File.

Vegas, Jennifer. “Prehistoric Dog Lived, Died Among Humans”. Discovery News. 28 Feb. 2011. Discovery Communications. Web. 8 Oct. 2011. <http://news.discovery.com/animals/ancient-dog-burial-siberia-110228.html>.

Wilson, C C. "Physiological Responses Of College Students To A Pet." The Journal Of Nervous And Mental Disease 175.10 (1987): 606-612. MEDLINE. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.

Junge, Christine. Health Harvard. Therapy dog offers stress relief at work. 2011. 22 July 2011.

Kawcynnska, Claudia. The Bark. The Dogs of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 2012. Web. 24 June 2012.