Taxi My Pet

Dogs and Mental Health Support It has been proven by science that dogs are good for our health. Researchers found that owning a dog (or cat) can reduce stress. There was research done 30 years ago by psychologist Alan Beck of Purdue University and psychiatrist Aaron Katcher of the University of Pennsylvania. What they found when a person pets a friendly dog was the person’s blood pressure went down, heart rate slowed, breathing became more regular, and muscle tension relaxed. This discovery helped scientists see the connection between pets and mental health and thus developed animal-assisted therapy programs.  According to therapet.org , animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is the utilization of animals as a therapeutic modality to facilitate healing and rehabilitation of patients with acute or chronic diseases. The goal of AAT is to improve a patient's social, emotional, or cognitive functioning. There are positive effects from AAT that can be seen in pediatric care, in prisons, an...

Dogs and Finding Love  It seems like I know more single people who are fur-parents than people who are in a relationship with actual human offspring. I came across an article by the* General Social Survey that stated half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 (51% of them) said they do not have a steady romantic partner. There are many people looking for a relationship and some spend years and money only to wind up empty. A big help finding others looking for a relationship are dating apps. There are so many out there, some useful and others questionable. OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, Happn, and The League are just a few of the popular ones. These apps can connect you to someone down the block or even across the world. They can match you up with others with similar interests and make it easy to find not only a love interest but even just a new friend. One app I can get behind is  Dig , the dog person’s dating app. This app is catered to sing...

Storm Troopers- May the Fur Be with You! Hurricane Dorian has hit, and it has hit hard. But before Dorian made its ugly appearance, the Jacksonville Humane Society prepared ahead of time and placed the animals in their shelter in temporary homes. They managed to place these animals, almost 250, in homes in less than a week thanks to foster families called Storm Troopers. Storm Troopers are best known as Darth Vader’s servants with terrible aim. But to Florida’s Jacksonville Humane Society, these Storm Troopers are amazing volunteers who are heroes. The Storm Trooper program was activated August 31 in the wake of Hurricane Dorian. These volunteers were needed until September 6 once Dorian has dissipated. The shelter managed to get a great majority of the animals out. Two dogs that were quarantined for biting, some nursing cats and their kittens and a few medical patients stayed behind with the shelters skeleton crew. “The JHS Storm Trooper program allows families to bring home d...