The Healing Power of dogs

Dogs have always had special standing in the medical world. Trained to see for the blind, hear for the deaf and move for the immobilized, dogs have become indispensable companions for people with disabilities.-NY Times

Yesterday our daughter started crying suddenly for no reason, at least that's what we thought. We tried to make her quite, gave her toys to play, shifted her from dad's hand to grandma's hands to mom's hand. But it seemed like she was troubled with something that none of us could figure out.She was thinking about the same thing constantly and was crying again and again after a pause of couple of seconds.

My last option to try with her was my sweet female dog Alice who can put a smile on any crying baby's face unless he or she is scared of dogs. Then Alice was sleeping in her room. She had just come back from the neighbor's backyard after a long hectic day of fun but as soon as we went to her, she saw my daughter and started responding with happiness and acknowledged that we came to meet her. And to my surprise my daughter got diverted and started laughing once I brought her in front of Alice and Alice started jumping as we played with her. As usual she was always ready to entertain. 

Sometimes we don't understand what kind of healing power these animals might have for the most serious things that upset us in our life that too especially dogs. For the umpteenth time in my life I have agreed to the fact that dogs are much more than just four legged animals. Research tells that dog owners pay 40% less doctor visits than non dog owners. I am not sure how true this is but one thing I can say for sure is that after a lifetime of regard for dogs and many years of attachment, I have reached to the conclusion that dogs definitely feel more, feel more intensely and feel more purely than I do (I am not going to speak for other people). I know that she will be always there when we need her but unfortunately we don't understand every time when she needs us...