By Lisa Cohn
After our dear dog, Lucy, died about a year ago, we began searching for a puppy. Some experts say families should wait before finding a new dog. But we couldn’t stand the emptiness of a home without her.
When we first visited the breeder from whom would we buy our new dog, (Hudson), my three children and I sat in a pen full of puppies for an hour. The longer I sat there, immersed in the smells and sounds of puppies, the happier I became. I felt it seep into me, the way the smells of spring seep in and make me feel calm and fulfilled.
Just before I left the breeder’s, I asked her about those feelings.
“Sitting in that pen with the pups for an hour made me feel so happy,” I said.
“Of course!” she responded. And that was that. As a breeder, she knew that dogs make people happy.
A little research confirmed what I had observed and what the breeder already knew. The act of petting a dog can cause neurotransmitters in our head to make us feel happier. Or, as a USA Today story explained, “The mere act of petting a dog can cause a chain of events. Instantly, neurotransmitters in our heads do a happy dance — it’s involuntary. We feel good.”
Feeling happy spawns so many benefits. Studies show that when people pet a dog, they’re flooded with oxytocin, a hormone that makes us less anxious and stressed.
Even though I was suffering from intense grief over the loss of my dog, that’s exactly how I felt, sitting in the puppy pen, drenched in puppies.
At that time, I was in the midst of writing our book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence.” My experience in the puppy pen strengthened my idea of writing a book that addresses the magical dog-human connection–or, in the case of our book–the magical dog-child connection. You can feel that connection when you watch our book trailer, in which Michael clowns with young Hudson:
In our book, a dog named Lucy–who looks like the Lucy we lost–instills confidence in the boys on a soccer team by kissing them, loving them, and making them laugh. To learn more about our book, you can visit BashAndLucy.com or Amazon.com
Hudson is calling me now. It’s time to walk him and feel happy.