Perks of Having a Dog

    Pets are a big part of the lives of many American people. In fact, according to this article, "Nationwide, Americans keep roughly 70 million dogs and 74 million cats as pets." This is no surprise, especially living on the North Shore where it is difficult not to see a dog on a single block.  It turns out that owning a pet, particularly a dog, has more perks than just being there to keep you company.
     On Thursday, it was discovered by the American Heart Association that "owning a dog...[is] “probably associated” with a reduced risk of heart disease." This makes perfect sense because people with dogs are more prompted to get outside to walk/run their dog. Another reason is that having a dog lowers your stress level, and therefore your heart rate as well.
    I found that this research relates to what we have been discussing recently in class, social classes. While it is true that people in the lower class might have a pets, it seems that they would be less likely to receive the same kind of benefits from it that people in the upper class do. One reason for this is that people in the lower class are more likely to be having to work two jobs. Because of this, they would not have the same time as someone in the upper class would to take their dog for a long walk or even just work out on their own. Clearly, the research above has some flaws because many people that do have dogs may be unable or just chose not to take their dogs out, and thus having a dog would not reduce their risk of heart disease. Although a small one, this is just another perk of living in the upper class over the lower class.