Dogs May Be Good for Children's Psychological Development

First, I want to thank everyone for responding to the call to adopt and foster, as shelters all across the country were bracing for the COVID 19 pandemic. Your response allowed shelter personnel to function in a safer, socially distant mode that permitted the reducing, rotating, staggering of shifts while adding remote and virtual contact free services and programs. Your cooperation means everything to us and is certainly a double good deed!

Now that many of you have dogs, I thought you should see this New York Times Article  "Dogs May Be Good for Children’s Psychological Development" which posits that "Compared to young children without dogs, those who had them were less likely to have conduct problems or problems relating to peers."

Data was collected by Australian scientists from parents of 3-5 year old boys and girls from a variety of demographics, as well as details on dog walking and playing to reach the above conclusion. 

Of course, there is a lot more studying of this issue to do before establishing rock solid cause and effect evidence - but it is something to think about as you work as a family, to make the dog feel at home and build the human animal bond.

Please stay well.