According to a new study published in the journal Pediatric Research, preschoolers who have regular interaction with a family dog in the form of playing with the dog and accompanying the family on walks with the dog, see gains in social and emotional development.
These toddlers were thirty percent less likely to have problems with their conduct and difficulties interacting with other children compared to toddlers who live in families who did not have a dog.
The interesting thing about this new study is that most of the research on the benefits of people having dogs come from participants who were adolescents to adults. Children at the toddler stage, whose brain frontal lobes (which regulate emotional control) are not fully developed, were thought to not have the capacity to fully interact with a dog. But this study clearly shows this is not the case.
Even so, with families who have a toddler and are thinking about getting a dog, be sure to choose a breed that does well with children and also think about the extra responsibility you are going to have to take on as the dog’s primary caretaker.
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