On International Dog Day it’s the moment to reflect on and celebrate everything DOG!

 

As man’s best friend dogs contribute to our wellbeing in so many ways, some might even say that it’s a love of a dog that makes us human.

For centuries we evolved epigenetically as we domesticated the dog to be our guards, our hunters, and our best friends.

Without dogs to drive our livestock to market back in the day, we may not have even built our modern capitalist world!

Its only with the advances in science over the past 20 years or so, that’s enabled us to unpick exactly why the human: dog relationship is so strong.

Much is down to their huge olfactory system, estimated to be a million times more acute than ours. Back in the day, a dog’s nose helped us hunt for our food, helped guard us by smelling danger and alerting us to take action.

Overtime dogs have used their olfaction to read us like a book by ‘smelling’ our moods, even detecting when we’re feeling unwell by responding to changes in our bio-chemistry.

Dogs smell cortisol levels rising and falling so they know when we’re happy or sad. Cleverly they’ve correlated distinct facial expressions associated with such cortisol fluctuations to pick up on minute facial and body language cues.

Unlike our closest animal relative – the Chimpanzee, dogs understand from birth that the cue of pointing means look in that direction or go and find something ‘over there’, whereas Chimps literally have no idea of what pointing means.

This is why dogs respond to the subtlest cues and confirms why body language is a universal language between people and their dogs.

Of course, to build a close relationship with your dog takes time, patience, consistency and is a huge commitment! After all: A dog is for life, not just for Christmas!  

Every dog around the globe should deserve the best life - one of joy, love, protection care and respect. That’s why I’m proud to be an Ambassador for Wild at Heart Foundation.

A staggering 75% of the world’s dog population are strays, WAH works tirelessly to raise funds to control the population with spaying and neutering programs, vet support and education at a local level.

Successfully helping well over 35,000 dogs in countries as far afield as Chile, Mexico, Thailand and India, WAH is controlling the population of street dogs. Not least re-homing over 2,000 lucky dogs into their forever homes around the world.

Also, as World Rabies Day approaches, WAH is proud to offer vaccination programs through their partners, helping protect these dogs and the people in communities at risk of the deadly disease.

All dogs deserve a loving permanent home. Whilst we’re obsessed by puppies, with rescues in the UK at bursting point, the mantra #AdoptDontShop is increasingly morally mandatory.

Undoubtedly, dogs offer us an antidote to modern life’s stresses. They’re our gateway to the outdoors, and being a dog owner is like being part of a club, connected to nature but also to like-minded people.

There’s nothing as inspiring as watching your dog run on a beach full of the bliss of sea air and open space. Or exploring woodland with all their senses alert to the sights sounds and smells.

Equally as the ‘dog-friendly’ revolution stretches into the workplace with cutting edge Tech firms in particular welcoming dogs into the office, dogs are adapting to different roles.

Simply having a dog in a room full of people helps lower everyone’s blood pressure, plus studies concur that office staff are more interactive and productive when there’s a dog around. Plus, dog owners are known to smile more, and other studies suggest dog owners live longer.

Let’s be unanimous on International Dog Day and shout out about the greatness of the DOG, no matter their size or their breed.  Remember every dog is an individual with quirks and personalities. There’s a match made in heaven for anyone ready to give up their heart for a dog.