Dogs & Human Health is user-friendly book about the “New Science of Dog Therapy” that nonetheless contains a plethora of references to good, solid science. (There are 50 pages of references at the end of the book. Be still my heart.) Dr. Milena Penkowa, a neuroscientist and medical doctor in Denmark, has produced something of interest to all dog lovers, not just those of us who have therapy dogs. She briefly discusses early interactions between people and dogs, has a short section on the history of therapy dogs, but most of the book is about the positive effects that interacting with a dog has on us–for at little as twelve minutes.
We all (at least most of the readers of this blog) know that in a general sense, dogs are “good for us.” I’ve talked at length about the power of oxytocin, which is released when we are petting, or even gazing, at our dogs. Oxytocin modulates inflammation, decreases the perception of pain, and is central to feelings of social attachment, love and trust. And–no surprise here–oxytocin is increased in the body when you pet a dog, even one you aren’t familiar with.
But did you know that just five minutes with a dog could significantly increase IgA antibodies in health care professionals, while twenty minutes of “quiet resting” actually decreased the levels of this important part of our immune system? (Barker et. al. 2005) Another study referenced in the book (Charnetski et. al. 2004) asked college students to either pet a dog, pet a stuffed dog, or sit on a comfy couch for eighteen minutes. Only the students petting a real dog showed significant increases in immunoglobin (IgA), and thus had their immune system boosted by that short interaction.
According to Penkowa, the benefits of dog ownership are far reaching: Those who grow up with dogs are less likely to have asthma, eczema or atopic dermatitis. The presence of a dog increases neurohormones like dopamine and prolactin that “contributes to the immune system’s tumor surveillance,” and might explain why dog “exposure” is related to reduced cancer occurrence. (Penkowa cites eight studies here to back up this claim, the most recent being Rojas Vega et al. 2012 & Sarkar et al., 2012.)
My only criticism is that I haven’t found references to the studies that don’t support the “dogs are good for us” hypothesis. For example, Gilbey and Tani (2015) argued that many of the studies showing positive effects of dog ownership or animal assisted therapy are lacking in scientific rigor. McConnell and Brown (2011, not me, fyi), found that pets can serve as important sources of social support, as cited in Dogs & Human Health, but pet ownership did not correlate with decreased rates of depression, or even loneliness, compared to people without pets. I didn’t see that finding mentioned in the book, and I wish it had been there. For another look at studies that find a range of effects of pet ownership (or none at all), see Harold Herzog’s excellent book, Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat.
I emailed the author about this issue: She wrote that she originally had references to studies that found no positive effects, and “went back and forth” about leaving them in or taking them out. It looks as though the publisher (I’m guessing here) insisted on taking them out. That’s a shame, but the book is still an invaluable resource, full as it is with study after study that looks at the positive medical and psychological effects of dog ownership.
Full Disclosure: Milena included some lovely comments about my book, For the Love of a Dog in her own book, and told me in an email that it has been a source of inspiration for her. She even said that she and her dog, Snubbi, carry a little bit of my dog Cool Hand Luke with them every day as they walk in the fields. Made me all gooey to read it. As did Dr. Penkowa’s (MD, PhD, DMSc) comment that she was motivated to write the book after Stubbi (in the photo) helped her through some difficult times in her own life, and then went on to alert to cancer in 5 patients who had no idea they had it. On the other hand, twice they visited cancer patients without Snubbi alerting–and it turned out they had been misdiagnosed and did not have cancer at all. The photo, by the way, is of Stubbi, “reading” For the Love of a Dog. Looks like I got my oxytocin hit already today!
Bottom line: I hope that this book encourages more health professionals to take the therapeutic effects of our relationship with dogs seriously. In spite of the impressive number of studies that do show a significant and positive effect of dogs in the right context, we have a long way to go to convince the powers that be that “Take two dogs and call me in the morning” is a good prescription. You can follow and support Dr. Penkowa’s work on her Facebook page, Dogs and Human Health.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Summer turned to fall in a blink of an eye, and it’s time to store the magic of the summer sun as frozen tomatoes and plums. The tomatoes were washed and cooked into “Red Sauce,” a thinner-than-store-bought-but-oh-so-fresh-and-flavorful sauce for pasta. I turned a basket of Roma tomatoes into dinners that we’ll enjoy throughout the winter, savoring the warmth of summer in the dark months of winter. The plums, sweet, juicy and small, are cooked up in boiling water and pushed through a sieve to separate the flesh from the seeds and skin. I’ll freeze the result, and later combine it with wild apples to make “Plum Apple Butter Sauce”. Very yummy on toast, and my favorite addition to the local pork we’ll be getting soon from just down the road.
Here are some plums still on the tree. You can’t tell from the photo, but they are much smaller than commercial plums, little bigger than a fat quarter. But oh, my, they cook up nicely with the applesauce I’ll make later in the year!
Equally colorful, these Roma tomatoes from Vermont Valley Community Farm have been turned into quarts of Red Sauce, thinner than commercial “spaghetti sauces,” but tasting like sun and summer in the depths of winter. We had it on linguini last night. Yum.
Monika says
Being the driving half of a pet therapy team at a local hospital & hospice, I have seen first hand the power of sitting with an attentive pooch who loves on a patient. Quite remarkable!
Kat says
As a Therapy Dogs International team we’ve sometimes had reluctant acceptance of our visits, at least for the first visit. Staff starts out with the attitude of well it’ll give the residents something to look at for a bit and almost immediately that is converted to amazed delight as residents who haven’t been willing to engage in any activity blossom in the presence of the dogs and dementia patients who haven’t spoken in weeks begin to talk to the dogs, and as people smile and laugh and especially when our dogs target staff that are having particularly difficult days and make them feel better. Once they see what happens they’re eager to have us come back as often as we can.
And for anyone on Facebook looking for an oxitocin rush check out our meet the dogs album at Therapy Dogs International Chapter 270. Most of the photos were taken on actual visits. It isn’t just the people who benefit. The dogs love it too.
Nancy says
Having worked as a handler in both a hospital setting and in a homeless mission I have no doubt about the value of sharing a pet. However, as the director/scheduler of a pet therapy team I am in a quandary. Several handlers would like me to secure opportunities for them to bring their dog into an elementary school setting during the day to work with reluctant readers. As a teacher I have challenged them to show me the data that demonstrates this opportunity actually makes better readers. I am certain children relax and therefore read more fluently. I also know that fluency correlates with comprehension but am not so certain the gains off set the loss of instructional time and the disruption to the entire class. Since children today are tested in every imaginable way data must be out there. I just haven’t seen it. They think I am real grouch but I want to know it is more than a cute photo-op. By the way I have set up an opportunity for them to work with homeless kids in an after school program so I am not really heartless. Have you seen data the reading area?
Shari Goldfarb says
I’m a psychiatric social worker in a small outpatient behavioral health clinic, and began lobbying our director to accept my Labrador as a therapy dog a full year before I even got Emma! Our director is mainly a “cat person,” and is also in-charge of safety and liability issues here, among many other duties, so she had her doubts, especially since animal-assisted therapy was barely heard of ten years ago.
But after a few years of steady pressure, including papering the director’s desk with a number of articles from Dr. Aubrey Fine and others (not so easy to find, back in the day), she agreed to give it a try, and never regretted for a minute of Emma’s eight years of work here!
I LOVED having Emma as my therapy partner: I work with some very ill patients, and I am convinced that many of them hung in here for the challenging work of therapy because they got to see and pet Emma. Some were so anxious that they NEVER made eye contact with me, but they were able to look down, pet Emma, and have their sessions. What a blessing to have her here! And the funniest thing was reading the “customer service” surveys that were filled out by patients over a two week period each year: “Emma is wonderful!” “What a joy to have Emma here” and, oh yeah…Shari is okay too… 🙂
Emma is now thirteen and a half, and is retired. All that people contact takes a toll, and when she didn’t seem completely comfortable with coming here, I gradually cut her schedule down further and further until she stopped seeing patient all together. I really miss having her here, though, and some of my long-time patients still ask for her…so sweet!
Janet Wenholz says
The nonprofit I work for rescues shelter dogs, matches them with veterans and others with disabilities, then trains them together to become service dog teams. Our program takes about 48 weeks. We start with leash-handling and gradually teach our clients how to work with their dogs doing complex service tasks, chosen for their individual needs. Most of our combat veterans, from Vietnam to the current conflicts, are trying to cope with a combination of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS), hearing loss, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and reduced mobility. Some, both military and civilian, are victims of sexual assault. We also work with adults and children with a wide range of medical and psychological issues such as autism, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy. As disparate as these are, they have many common elements. We often see startling positive results after only a few group classes, and by the time our clients are ready to take their 7-hour public access test, many doctors have been able to reduce the number and/or dosage of anxiety and sleep medications. Pretty incredible stuff!!
Kelsey says
I am interested to read that book- thanks for the review!
I am on the receiving end of benefits on a personal level. I have Emotion Dysregulation Disorder (aka Borderline Personality Disorder), a disorder that no medicine has been approved to treat and has a suicide rate of ~10%.
Unstable relationships is one symptom of this disorder; having a companion who can increase a person’s social support is very helpful. The McConnell and Brown (2011) study is relevant to those who want to increase social support. Even if the findings showed no decrease in depressive or loneliness symptoms, I think that knowing it helps with social support means animal therapy can target patients who suffer in that area.
So, I totally agree with you- studies like that are significant pieces of information and I think it is a mistake of a publishing company to want the information excluded. Still, I hope this book can inspire a future where many professionals utilize the human-animal bond to increase patient wellbeing.
Kat says
@Nancy–I can’t point to the hard science off the top of my head but this video from TDI addresses some of your concerns about the effectiveness of having children read to dogs. http://www.tdi-dog.org/Introduction.aspx?Page=Children+Reading+To+Dogs+Video From personal experience and from talking to the teachers for whom Ranger and I have been Tail Waggin’ Tutors I can say that it does briefly disrupt the classroom when we arrive–largely because all the students want to greet Ranger and he wants to greet all of them. We do a quick pass through the room giving the kids a second or two to pet him then go to our area for one on one reading. We’re scheduled to arrive at a transition time in the day so our disruption actually helps with moving the kids to the next activity/subject. The teachers tell me that there is a positive change in the focus and behavior of the students when Ranger is onsite. They are calmer and more focused. We’re there for about an hour and usually hear six or seven readers. I’ve watched a student who could barely read books with two or three word sentences grow and improve to the point where by the end of the school year he was bringing chapter books to read to Ranger. Students with ADHD and ADD find it easier to read in the presence of the dog. And students with behavior issues will behave during their reading time with the dog. We’re there for an hour once a week and the teachers would be happy to have us everyday. I’d encourage you to do your own trial and see what kind of impact it has. What I’ve seen has been pretty amazing.
Nic1 says
Wow! Such an inspiring and fascinating blog topic.
Yet more evidence that our companionship with dogs can be so beneficial in all sorts of ways. IgA acts as a first line of defence in secretions on epithelial surfaces and how fascinating to learn that people who grow up with dogs are less likely to have some respiratory or skin related diseases as a result of their immune function in this regard possibly boosted?
Also, fascinated to read about Snubbi the wonder dog. I just find that absolutely incredible that the evidence is suggesting that dogs are more diagnostically accurate in picking up some types of cancers, than some of our highly developed biomarkers (e.g. PSA). Snubbi not only alerts top cancer but can also possibly ‘alert’ to false positives!? How remarkable is that!?
We are going ahead with the first clinical trial of cancer detecting dogs here in the UK for PSA. Isn’t our relationship with this species just incredible?
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/08/cancer-detecting-dogs-nhs-trial-milton-keynes-prostate
Nancy says
@Thanks, Kat. It certainly sounds like you have worked to make visiting a positive experience for all. I know first hand the joy of watching a child gain confidence and skills in reading. I did watch the video and they referred to research. I will let the challenge to my handlers stand to find it for me. Not to worry, our team is not exclusive and handlers are free to find their own opportunities. Right now if I take on the challenge of working in the public schools I will approach the autism classrooms first I believe. There are plenty of ways we can share our pets and sometimes it feels there are just not enough registered teams to go around. Maybe, if we grow some we can explore more avenues. You have swayed me enough though to suggest our handlers bring a grade appropriate book or two when we go to our afterschool work with homeless kids. That may be a good middle ground for now. Thank you.
Martha Chiang says
This is a topic of great interest to me and, as usual, (I am so new to this group of readers) the posts span a fascinating range and generate so many questions in my mind. Patricia, I am unable to find this book by title/author either on Dogwise or on Amazon, and I really want to buy a copy if it is affordable, can you tell us were you sent an advance copy or is this title available for purchase yet? Thank you in advance, Martha
lin says
@Nancy: here’s a link to a couple of small studies done by UCDavis. No details are given, so you may want to contact the professors in charge, to find out how it was done, but it does show some promise. http://ucanr.edu/delivers/?impact=800
Mireille says
Just a question, being on the ‘spoilsport’ side of dog therapy. I’m head of infection control in my hospital and there are pretty strict rules about where dogs can and cannot go. As a dog lover I woud be more than willing to go the extra mile for dog therapy programs but in the Netherlands it is a pretty new phenomenon and would require sone effort in swaying policies in hospitals. Is the issue if health risk and safety also adressesdin the book?
Trisha says
Martha, re where to find the book. I found it easily on Amazon. I suspect you could also go to Dr. Penkowa’s Facebook page for order information.
To Mireille: Excellent and important question. I remember reading in the book a study that found no reports of disease transmission from dog to human in the therapy programs that were studied (hospital setting). But, sorry, I can’t remember exactly where it was. (Wish there was an index!) I’d suggest writing Dr. Penkowa. Anecdotally, I can tell you a common concern is the reverse–that dogs will pick up MRSA from hospitals.
Judy Fridono says
Surfing therapy dog won’t leave boy with autism until they make eye contact
This 27 second slow motion video shoes just how powerful eye contact can be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9QpsChuiNY
Surf Dog Ricochet keeps looking at West until he makes eye contact. This exemplifies just how much empathy she has toward kids with autism, and how they are able to communicate with no words spoken. Just a second of eye contact, but incredible communication between the two.
Rachel says
I’d be curious to know if the McConnell/Brown study referenced the incidence of depression, or the frequency/severity of symptoms when it found that there was no improvement for people who had dogs. Depression is complex enough that I’d be shocked if it were magically “cured” by simply having a dog, but I think many of us would say that having our dogs makes certain aspects of our lives more bearable.
Regarding dogs in hospitals, in the facilities I’ve worked in there were limitations on where dogs could go based on the isolation precautions being used with the patient. Patient’s on contact, enteric, or droplet precautions would not get pet therapy visits, as gowning and masking the dog would probably not go over very well. Other than that, to my knowledge, the dogs are very welcome in the facilities.
I think in general we underestimate the value of our relationships with animals. When I was much younger I worked with a therapeutic horseback riding program; my students came from every background- autism, blindness, deafness, traumatic brain injuries, Down Syndrome, Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy… outside the barn, they were “disabled.” Many were wheelchair dependent. But in the arena, on the horses, they were strong and free. Hearing an autistic child whoop and shout to his mom (while looking her in the eye) “that’s my horse!” is something you can’t forget, any more than seeing a wheelchair bound adult canter gracefully around the arena. The horses were generally very protective of their students. They were careful and gentle and made the success of the program possible; one mare I worked with frequently would refuse to leave the arena after a lesson with her “favorite” until she was allowed to nuzzle his face.
I’m not sure where else I was going to go with this post, so I’m just going to leave it hanging.
Milena Penkowa says
You Can Get the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-amp-Human-Health-Science/dp/1452529027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437552217&sr=8-1&keywords=Dogs+%26+Human+Health%3A+The+New+Science+of+Dog+Therapy+%26+Therapy+Dogs
Milena Penkowa says
I’m sorry for the lacking index – I did in fact make one of 500 indexed words, but by mistake it wasn’t included in the printed version. I should have seen it when I had the proof version for a final tjeck, but I didn’t until several days later – and by then the printing /publishing had started (My mistake – sorry for that). Please feel free to email or text me about it…Greetings from Snubbi & Milena (none of it to blame Snubbi)
Carolyn says
Nancy,
I wish I could provide you with data that shows that pets help increase reading skills, but I can’t get my hands on it. What I can tell you definitively, is that READING helps increase reading skills. To that end, if a child is more likely to read with a dog than without a dog, then reading with a dog will help increase reading skills.
Surely you’ve heard of the PAWS to Read programs. My beagle and I participated for a number of years. While some of the dogs were credentialed, most were just well-behaved pets (as was the case with my Willow).
The program is a huge success. Here’s a video highlighting the school teacher who chartered and piloted the program (and, conveniently, showcasing my Willow): http://arlingtonva.tv/paws-to-read/
And more information here: http://library.arlingtonva.us/events/kids-events/paws-to-read/
And one more program using cats: http://www.awla.org/2015/02/animal-welfare-league-of-arlington-launches-paws-and-read-program/
Regardless, thanks for your work. Data or no data, it helps!
HFR says
Am I the only one who thinks Richochet always looks stressed when he’s surfing? I don’t know why, but that dog never looks happy to me.
Rachel says
She does look a little uncomfortable on that surf board. I would imagine the footing does not feel at all safe to her.
Ellen Pepin says
I found it so amazing that an untrained (I assume) dog like Stubbi can alert to cancer correctly and not alert on two misdiagnosed cases. It shows the powers of dogs to help us in the medical field.
What I did find difficult to understand were the studies that found that pet ownership did not lead to less loneliness. When my husband was in another state for his job for 3 months, I think the nights would have been unbearably lonely if it weren’t for my dog, Nikki. She also helped me feel more safe even though she only weighed 44 lbs. She was loud, though.
Milena Penkowa says
Hello Ellen Pepin
There are numerous studies to show that dog ownership reduces loneliness, -just as you (and I) have found out:-)
best wishes from Snubbi & Milena
Chris Carney says
Right now I’m reading “Voices in the Ocean” by Susan Casey–remarkable! She’s a journalist who decided to investigate the dolphin situation all around the world, talk to all the experts, “friends of dolphins”, even those who prey on dolphins to kill or sell them. I have to put it down every once in awhile, even though she does an expert job and is a fast read, because the cruelty is overwhelming; she does, however, look at all sides of the issue.
Shelly Smith says
Can you be a successful foster if you have serious social anxiety? With humans, dogs no problem. Do the physical symptoms get in the way?