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TiaRose Nagami
Mr. Smith
Writing for College
10 November 2016
Everyones Best Friend: How Service Dogs Positively Affect People
INTRODUCTION
Around the world, millions of people are disabled due to illness, tragic incidents or
pregnancy mishaps. When there is no cure for these problems, where do people turn? They
find comfort, support, and assistance from service dogs. A dog is considered a service dog
when it has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person
with a disability. Six year old Mark Fontana, who was diagnosed with autism at three years
old, shares how his service dog, Echo, changed his life. According to NBC News, his mother
claims, Its 100 percent successhes happy to be free. Service dogs give people with
disabilities the opportunity to experience true happiness and forget about everything else.
Dogs are truly a mans best friend because they provide their owner with unconditional love
and essential support.
I chose to focus my senior project on service dogs and how they affect humans
because Im passionate about the way dogs influence my life and make it better. Furthermore,
I chose service dogs because I love that they are such loving animals that also know how to
care for their owner, especially those that are disabled. Dogs make our lives better and I want
to better understand how service dogs positively affect the humans they are working with.
Dogs change lives by building a positive relationship, bringing joy to their owner, and
increasing life expectancy.

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POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
Science proves that humans need other people or animals in their lives. Dogs have
been proven to accompany their owners thus creating positive relationships. John Bradshaw,
author of In Defence of Dogs, tackles the question: Does your dog love you? The answer is
yes: probably more than you think. Dogs are profoundly attached to their owners
Bradshaw explains that dogs have a deep need for relationships with humans. Ultimately, this
means that dogs may need humans more than humans need them, which shows how dogs
create a positive relationship with their owner because they will do anything to make them
happy.
Rover Daily Treat, a blog all about dogs states, One study showed that thinking of
your pet when youre feeling down is as beneficial as thinking of a human friend. Knowing
that someone, even a dog, loves you unconditionally helps one feel at ease, especially when
dealing with issues in life and known disabilities. Some with disabilities may feel alone and
isolated, but having a service dog by their side causes social interaction, creating a positive
relationship with the service dog and other people. Social interaction is vital to the human
health, both mentally and physically because it lowers the occurrence of stress, depression,
anxiety and also highly affects our endocrine-immune system. They give us a sense of
purpose, Rover Daily Treat continues, and make us feel needed and less lonely. Dogs are a
wonderful source of support and give disabled people, such as war veterans who suffer from
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the ability to cope. It's hard for one to focus on
positive thoughts when there are obstacles that appear every day, but dogs help humans direct
their thoughts by playing around.

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Service dogs specialize in making their owners feel relaxed and help fulfill the social
need of belonging. They create positive relationships with their owners because they succumb
to their every need and always try their best to accommodate their humans emotions and
desires. The emotional connection between owner and service dog was multidimensional,
inclusive of trust, maintaining independence, increased socialization, and creating a need to
participate in leisure experiences. The bond between the owner and the service dog must be
positive because they rely on each other physically and emotionally. Disabled people rely on
their service dog physically because they live with limitations and are restricted and incapable
of doing everything that a normal person can do. They also rely on their service dog
emotionally because they want to be happy and stress-free. As service dogs help disabled
humans, humans return the favor by showing compassion and love for their dog. Dogs rely on
their owners physically and emotionally because it helps dogs not suffer from separation
distress. This positive relationship allows humans to help dogs similarly to the way dogs help
humans because they provide each other with a sense of stability, trust, love, and loyalty.
BRING JOY
No one really understands the joy an animal can bring until they have one of their
own. Most people prefer dogs over cats because of the constant joy they bring into their lives.
It is essential that everyone have joy in their life and research shows that the happiness that
dogs bring to people is real, lasting, and necessary. Disabled patients, especially children who
are enclosed in a box room of a hospital, use service dogs to lessen their emotional pain and
enlighten their spirits. Dr. Hal Scherz, a pediatric urologist at The Childrens Hospital of
Atlanta observed, When Casper (a dog) walks into a patients room, everybody lights up.

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Some kids with disabilities feel ashamed of their lives and are sad, but dogs love humans for
the way they are and thats what causes the children to smile.
Service dogs are brought to childrens hospitals to calm them before they go into
surgery and to brighten up the room. They lessen the tension that is floating in the room and
they fill all the children with laughter. Sophie is the ultimate child-life specialist. She
changes the tenor of the experience for the children, Dr. Scherz comments as he moves onto
another dog. Service dogs can sense when their owners feel uneasy and uncomfortable, so
Sophie helps the children avert their attention from the surgery to her. As a child, its hard to
comprehend and understand what is going on, which causes one to be scared, nervous, and
anxious. With these service dogs, the children are able to free up their mind and not worry
about whats going to happen next.
The Childrens Hospital of Atlanta brings service dogs into their patients rooms
because it helps the children relax and feel a little more at ease. Alice is here to bring them
comfort, Dr. Scherz notes, and the patients absolutely adore her. These children adore the
service dogs because they are heart-warming animals that bring love, joy, and comfort to each
and every one of them. People find joy when working with service dogs because the service
dogs help them to forget about the negative things that are going on in their lives, and focus
on the happiness they have.

IMPROVE HEALTH
Many retired veterans and those who fought in wars suffer from PTSD. PTSD is a
mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event either experiencing it or
witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as

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uncontrollable thoughts about the event. For those who come from a religious background,
mainly two things occur: they either turn to or away from God. In this instance, Randy
Dexter, a PTSD patient explains his thoughts explaining, [God] never stops trying, sending
us hope and healing. Sometimes, if were lucky, it comes on four paws. Prior to getting a
service dog, Dexter thought that he was a lost cause and was filled with negative thoughts due
to his disorder. Dexter lost faith in God and blamed Him for everything that had gone wrong
in his life, until one day, he met Ricochet. Ricochet changed Dexters life for the better and
has positively impacted him every day since. Dexter feels joy when he's with Ricochet
because he knows he can trust him with his life and Ricochet wouldn't do anything to put
Dexter in harm's way. Dexter recalls his thoughts explaining, When I got stressed and
stopped scratching, Ric would lift my hands with her nose to get me to continue...I felt like a
huge burden had been lifted. Randy Dexter informs us on the little things that his service
dog, Ricochet, has done for him. He explains that Ricochet would be able to detect when he
was stressed or anxious. Dexter felt a burden lifted off of him because Ric made sure he was
okay and helped keep his mind off of the negative thoughts caused by the war.
When Randy Dexter first met Ricochet, he felt relaxed and happy, which is something
he hadn't felt in a while. When people work with service dogs, they find joy because they
realize the benefits and the happiness that comes along with the dog. Dexter didn't think a dog
would be able to help him with his PTSD side effects, but he soon realized that he was wrong
and this service dog was his pride and joy. Service dogs bring joy to people because they
show them the good things in life, and help them not to focus on the negatives.
Besides the positive relationships and happiness that service dogs create with their
owners, it has been proven that people are shown to have an increased life expectancy when

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working with their service dog. The American Heart Association released a national,
scientific study that found dog ownership reduced the risk of obesity, heart disease,
depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, reports Cousin. Pet
Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk, the name of the study, critically evaluated the
relationship between pet ownership and health. This study shows the health of Americans
with and without pets. According to the Humane Society, 78.2 million dogs are owned in the
United States because dogs were found to be the only pet that had a significant influence on
the owner's health. Dogs increase human life expectancy because the dogs force their owners
into physical exercise. The owners felt forced into exercise because their dog was so
persistent and eager to play. Owners said to have felt responsible to exercise their dog and felt
guilty if they didn't. Owners who exercise their dog cause them to be less obese, which
decreases the risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and high cholesterol. It is
said that just by walking their dog, it increased the health of the owners. Alongside dogs
forcing their owners to be in better shape, they've also given their owners a subconscious
feeling of protection, decreasing anxiety as mentioned above. It is proved that dog owners
have less stress, anxiety, and depressions because dogs act as a social support and they also
provide companionship which allows the owners to be more comfortable and confident about
their lives. Since the dogs give their owners unconditional and endless love, it allows their
owners to be optimistic and have higher self-esteem.
Jim Stanek, an army veteran who suffers from PTSD and previously was on the TV
show Dogs of War, explains how his service dog, Sarge, saves his life on a day-to-day basis.
Jim asserts, Ill tell you hands down they are lifesavers. Jim considers his service dog to be
a lifesaver because she checks the corners when they enter a store to make sure that there's

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nothing that will harm him. Sarge also takes her nose and jams it in Jim's elbow crease to help
him not to flashback about the war when they're walking and he sees a yard sale sign or a
cardboard box that would look like an IED. Jim knows that because he suffers from PTSD, he
must be cautious of what he does because, at any given moment, his brain could cause
traumatization and horrific flashbacks. Service dogs do their best to keep the thoughts of
suicide out of their human's head by spending most, if not all of their time, trying to keep their
owner happy and comfortable.
A humans positive relationship with their service dog doesnt only affect the human
it affects the service dog as well. While the dog is keeping their owner happy and healthy, the
owner is doing the same for the dog. For example, Sarge does her job of keeping Jim safe by
scoping out their surrounding, waking him up from night terrors, and much more. Jim repays
Sarge by giving her a home to live in and food to eat. As Jim takes care of Sarge, she does the
same for him. Many PTSD patients may depend less on medications and more on their service
dog to alleviate their troubles physically and emotionally. This keeps both parties happy,
creating a positive relationship between the two of them. Service dogs are lifesavers because
they do anything in their power to ensure the safety of their owner.
Other than service dogs increasing a humans life expectancy by decreasing health
risks, Sandy Barker, director of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Center for Human-Animal Interaction, reports that Children with disabilities are more likely
to have more social interaction if they own a service dog. If children and adults own a
service dog because of their disabilities, they are more likely to have a social interaction. This
is important because social interactions decrease the chances of depression. Service dogs have
been called "service lubricants" because when humans walk with their dogs, there is far more

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social interaction with the dog being present. Dogs are said to be natural magnets for social
interaction, meaning they keep their owners, especially PTSD patients, from thinking about
the negative aspects of life. To add on top of that, More and more research says that owning
a dog can potentially increase your quality of life and help get you through lifes stresses,
Barker explains. Owning a service dog, or even a normal dog in general, can have a positive
effect on your emotional well-being. Service dogs help their owners fight off feelings of
loneliness. People who use service dogs as a form of therapy decrease their feelings of
loneliness and depression. Based on anecdotal reports, once veterans began to manage their
PTSD symptoms after being paired with a service dog, their quality of life has improved.
Veterans re-engaged in many life tasks that their symptoms previously prevented them from
participating in, such as work, school, and socializing with family and friends.
Linda S. McQuinston, a registered nurse and assistant professor of nursing at Indiana
State University, shares her knowledge and observations shes acquired over the years.
Research shows that service dogs can temporarily reduce cortisol levels, McQuinston
remarks. This experiment exhibited that children with a dog present proved to have lower
levels of cortisol than children without a dog present. Its important to take notice of cortisol
because it is a stress hormone that is linked to many health issues. Dogs are proven to
positively impact the lives of those who use therapy and service dogs. Besides this study,
more observations were made that linked service and therapy dogs to increased human life
expectancy. There are studies that show service dogs increase relaxation, reports
McQuinston. Therapy and service dogs can sense when their owner is stressed, and they will
cuddle up next to them or do something to distract them from their anxiety. The most popular
benefit of a therapy or service dog is they relieve their owners stress. This is important

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because they influence their owners mind with happy, positive thoughts while distracting
them from negative thoughts that give them stress, anxiety, or for PTSD patients: the thought
of committing suicide. Linda S. McQuinston also observed that when the dogs enter the room
to greet their patients, the humans light up and their entire demeanor changes. They aren't
focused on the negative thoughts and the anxiety and stress, but focused on this cute, fluffy
animal in front of them that just wants to give and receive love. Patients who spend most of
their time in hospitals with different nurses and sharp needles can live a depressing and
stressful life, but bringing a four-legged animal who knows only how to love can do all the
difference. Some people fail to realize the benefits of having a dog, and also the happier life
they could live with one by their side.
CONCLUSION
Dogs are beneficial for human lives and valued as service animals. They live to please
us, they provide understanding along with showing compassion, and they dont discriminate.
Service dogs are trained to know when their owner is unhappy, so they do anything to make
sure their human is happy. They always want to play and they know their owner will only play
if theyre happy, so it is their duty to please them. While dogs cant speak, they are able to
detect when something is wrong with their human, such as change in emotions. They listen to
their owners problems and dont judge them whatsoever.
Service dogs act as constant companions to children with autism and people with
disabilities to help them improve social interactions and relationships, expand verbal and
nonverbal communication, teach life skills, increase interest in activities and decrease stress
within the family. Service dogs encourage their owners to be more sociable, due to the
nurturing relationship between the dog and the owner, and a patient is more likely to

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encounter social interaction outdoors with a service dog by their side. For example, when the
human is walking with their service dog in the park, someone may be attracted to the dog
which causes social interaction between the two humans. Many people believe that
medications are the cure to their unhappiness and disabilities, but sometimes, a dog can do all
the difference.