Stress-Free Pups


If you have recently adopted or plan to adopt -- a shelter or rescue dog, some
gentle petting may help ease your new pet into home life.

An animal shelter can be a stressful environment for a dog. In a study, however, shelter
dogs receiving 20 minutes of daily petting and human interaction over the course of 8
weeks experienced significant reductions in their blood levels of the stress hormone
cortisol. Petting your new pet frequently may help your dog make a calmer transition to
domestic life, too.

I'd sure like to have a link of that study!

It's tough sometimes getting people to really see why i do what i do. Going to the pound and spending a few minutes with some of the dogs. It's not just about exercise and letting them out of their confined area.

[I also want to point out that in some instances you may just have to give the dog time to get used to you. If it had been abused contact may upset it at first. Let it learn to trust before you try to pet it. (Then again, I'm talking about a bit more feral or abused dogs. Most people wouldn't attempt taking on these poor waifs.)]

Petting is a two way street. It's as good for them as it is for us.



Ah... ask and i shall receive...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12420826?dopt=Abstract

http://www.cutbankairport.org/cbshelter/doginfo.htm was nice enough to list their source (the above link.)

Noted: Study also mentions that a better diet played a big role.