You may think this is a funny question to ask, but I think they can! I’m not saying if you have dogs you won’t commit a crime, but I do think dogs as pets do make a difference in your life!
Since I was born, my parents had dogs. As a child, there are many options we want as pets. Some want fish, some cats, some even want snakes and spiders, but like me, it has to be a dog. Whatever the pet, the one thing they all teach kids is responsibility.
If you own a pet, you have to make sure its given food, water, a nice home to live in, and depending on the pet, exercise. What it also does is give you the feeling of love!
How many times have you seen homeless people with dogs? I have seen many! You may wonder why they have them when they don’t have a home. For someone who is homeless, they not only give them someone to protect them, but it also gives them someone to love, and love them back!
When I left home at 19, I decide to have 2 kittens, rather than a dog. I loved my cats dearly, but they are very independent creatures. Yes they would be waiting for me when I got home, but they still wanted to be out exploring!
Dogs on the other hand want so much more from you, and give even more back!
As a child, my fondest memories were of walks at the weekend with my parents, siblings, and the family dog.
We lived near Warwick Racecourse, which is also public land. When the weather permitted, this was a great spot for walking the family dog.
I’ve always loved walking, which I think came from that experience. Even when I left home, I continued with my walks!
One day, I was walking on my own around the Malvern Hills! It struck me that something was missing in my life! I loved my walking, but I really missed that one true friend ! Don’t get me wrong, I had lots of friends socially, but just going for a walk needed a special friend. – a dog!
I worked full time so knew a puppy was out of the question! I decided a trip the the ‘Dogs Trust’ in Kenilworth was the answer !
If you have ever been to a dogs home, you will know what I mean when I say, you know ‘the one’!
I hadn’t really got anything in my head, except it has to like walking!
I looked up and down the kennels, I saw lots of cute dogs, but none said ‘take me home’! So I decided to give up and go home !
Later that day I spoke with my mum. She was disappointed that I hadn’t taken her with me! I felt bad, so even though my last trip was unsuccessful, I decided to return the same day with my mum.
As we walked around the kennels I saw the same dogs again. My views on them hadn’t changed. I felt sorry for them, they were cute and sad, but none still didn’t pull the right heart string! Then I saw her. She was a beautiful golden dog. She was called Tilly. They thought she was a german shepherd and greyhound cross. She was 8 years old. They didn’t know much about her except she was found in Ireland. I fell in love with her immediately.
I registered my interest in her. When you take a dog from a dogs home, they always make checks on you and where you live before they agree if you can take the dog home. Thankfully, I passed the tests and Tilly came home with me a week later.
The dogs home had named her Tilly. She hadn’t been in there long so didn’t really know her new name. I decided to change it to Sophie!
She was a beautiful dog. Very loyal. In the 4 years I had her before she passed away, I never heard her bark. She was frighten on newpapers though and bangs. She had a bullet a few millimetres from her heart. It was believed she may have been shot. As it was so close to her heart, they couldn’t remove it.
Sophie and I became immediate friends. She would love coming out for walks with me.
When you walk with your dog, something changes. You become more sociable. When its just you walking down the street, you wouldn’t often say anything to someone you pass! When you have a dog at your side, you seem to have to be polite and make a gesture. Good morning or afternoon become normal phrases.
You meet other dog walkers. Funnily enough, you always get to know the dogs names but never the owners! I was ‘Sophie’s mum’.
I have had 3 more dogs since Sophie. Ember was next. He was 2 years old and again from the dogs home. He was my best friend and very beautiful. Everyone would stop and talk to me, sparked by their love of my dog. He was so well behaved. It broke my heart when I lost him 10 years later.
We had a great time with him. He was walked miles in the Lake District, up and down Snowdonia as well as the Peak District. He came down to Devon and Cornwall with us. In fact where I went, he came too!
He helped me through my cancer treatment. He didn’t need a lead, so I could walk him straight away. The exercise helped me keep fit and prepared for my radiation treatment.
Dogs need walking. You can’t just ‘veg out’ in your house! You have to get up in the morning to walk them, and again in the evening. Not only does it give you exercise, but it means you are always out and about meeting new people. This was vital after my cancer operation. it could have been so easy just to sit around at home, worrying.
It can be extremely lonely, if every night you just go home to an empty house. I know some people who go home on a Friday night from work, and not see or speak to someone again until they return to work on the Monday morning. That is when depression and loneliness can set in.
Having dogs mean you have to leave the house. Even if you don’t speak to anyone, they will speak to you! It forces you to be more sociable.
I actually met my ex husband from walking my dog. He had seen me out and about and wanted to get to know me. He didn’t have a dog, but he had noticed me. Whilst he is now my ex, it does show that having a dog can bring new experiences in your life.
I now have 2 border collies. Fido and Lola. They are very beautiful and draw a lot of attention. Even people without dogs stop to talk to me about them.
One of my walking routes takes me around an estate where there is a lot of bungalows. This means that there are a lot of elderly people there. Every day I meet many of them, either looking out of their window, going to their cars, doing their gardens or putting out the bins.
As I pass them, I always give them a wave, or say hello to them. I wonder how many other people they see or talk to in that day? I feel that that little gesture to them, may make a lot of difference to them.
When we are not walking we are also missing out on our surroundings too. We have recently come back from a week in the Lake District. We had the 2 dogs with us too. One of the walks we did was not far away from our cottage. We had driven the same road every day when we were there.
As we started our walk, I spotted a river which I hadn’t seen before. I had passed that route so many times, but I had never seen that river. I then started to spot other things. Feels with cows and sheep, views over the countryside.
During that week we did over 139,000 steps. It took us to many places. If we hadn’t had the dogs we might have just jumped onto a plane somewhere. Instead we explored the countryside. We did the same in June in Scotland. We got to see some stunning views as well as get plenty of exercise.
Dogs help us see more of our surroundings, which we are blind to when we are just driving through!
So do dogs make you a better person? Yes they do! For so many reasons
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