Dog owners, rejoice. You’re going to live longer!
We’re semi-serious. Some Swedish outfit published a study on the health of dog owners, and it turns out that owning a pooch can decrease risk of death by 33 percent.
Of course, there are a lot of ifs, ans and buts. Including the number of people in the household, the overall health of the person studied, etc. etc. forever cetera. And correlation doesn’t imply causation. Maybe folks who are healthier are more inclined to keep up with a dog.
But . . . .
Some of the folks who conducted this study suggest that dogs bring dirt into the house, and they like to sit on your lap. Or maybe the bigger dogs will play tug-of-war. Either way, the dogs are probably going to lick you all over. Which, according to the story, “impact your microbiome, the bacteria that live in your gut, and thus your health.”
If playing with your dogs, and napping with your dogs, and throwing chew toys around, and getting your face licked is good for your health, we know a couple of people who are going to live forever. And what a happy life at that!