To reduce stress, walk a pet

MUMBAI, February 26: Here's some relaxing news for pet owners. A walk with your four-legged friend can work wonders in reducing stress, acco...

MUMBAI, February 26: Here’s some relaxing news for pet owners. A walk with your four-legged friend can work wonders in reducing stress, according to Josephine M Wills, the head of Communications and Scientific Affairs, Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, United Kingdom. She was speaking at the third session of the Dog Lovers’ Seminar organised by the Indian National Kennel Club at Vile Parle on Wednesday.

Wills informed that several studies conducted in the United States of America, Europe and Australia have shown that the impact of a stressful situation is lesser on pet owners, especially males, than non-pet owners. Pet owners reported fewer health problems, especially heart ailments. When a pet owner takes his dog out for a stroll, he exercises his body as well. At the same time, walking with a pet also soothes the nerves thus offering instant relaxation, she added.

However, Wills said, an animal cannot be treated as a drug to be used when required and then discarded. An overall relationship with theanimal needs to be developed, she added. “In fact, since the 1960s, largely following American child psychologist Boris Levinson’s work, there has been a revival of interest in the use of animal- facilitated therapy,” she informed.

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Wills observed that though Indians had a keen interest in pets, they lacked the requisite knowledge which could be largely blamed on the attitude of the Indian veterinarians . “At the on-going Commonwealth Veterinary Conference at Bangalore, the Indian veterinarians mainly spoke on domestic animals like the cow, goat, sheep and buffaloes,” Wills said.

Not surprisingly, the first thing that caught Wills’ eye in India was the number of stray dogs. If it offers any comfort, India has shown a fairly good performance in raising pets as compared to its Asian counterparts. Japan also figures among the few countries topping the Asian chart for pet-awareness.