The physical and emotional aspects are clearly intertwined. A study conducted in 1990 of 1,000 Medicare patients discovered that dog owners visited their doctors 16 percent less often than those who didn't own dogs. A study undertaken in England a year later confirmed this. It showed that over a 10- month period, dog owners had fewer small health problems and took more and longer walks than dogless owners. The theory is that the animals reduce stress levels and loneliness and, bring people out of themselves.
People can become more social when they are in the presence of animals.
Dogs for the Dogged Ruth Tuccio doesn't need studies to know that pet therapy works. For several years, the secretary at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut, would bring her two greyhounds to nursing homes. The nursing home patients' faces just lit up when they saw the dogs. The day can be very long and lonely in a nursing home. Some people don't get visitors and it's the same routine.