Although the generally accepted view is that pets in general (and dogs in particular) are good for the mental health of their owners, a study claims that they are, in fact, “harmful”.
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According to the study, cited by Skepchick – an online community founded by Rebecca Watson in 2005 that focuses on topics such as science, skepticism, activism and culture, all approached from a feminist and evidence-based perspective – 45% of respondents FELT “significantly unhappy” because of their pets.
“Finnish psychologists have developed a scale to accurately measure how unhappy people are after getting a puppy. They then applied this scale to about 2,000 people who had dogs that were once puppies. (….) They found that 45% of respondents were made significantly unhappy by their puppy, with the most common effects being anxiety, frustration and fatigue (in that order of prevalence). From this group, «20.3% reported that these feelings lasted less than a month, 31.0% reported a duration of 1-5 months, 29.5% experienced feelings that lasted from half a year to a year , and 19.3% reported that these feelings lasted more than a year»,” says Rebecca Watson, host of Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast, referring to the study published last month in Mental Health Research.
“Get over it!”
However, the influencer insisted on the positive aspects of this study.
“So, first of all, there’s some good news: Most people have NOT been miserable raising a puppy. So write that down. This is a positive thing! And second, most people who were unhappy were fine after five short months. That means nothing! Get over it!”.
Problems vs. Benefits: He ate a check, but he’s a good puppy
Watson said that in his case, the puppy “prescribed” by psychiatrist, who “ate” a door, caused her the anxiety, frustration and fatigue cited in the study, but she emphasized that the responsibility of taking care of him kept her alive.
“I adopted my first puppy when I was struggling with severe depression and he was perfect. He had only one accident in the house and ate only one thing. Unfortunately, the thing was a check, which has yet to be replaced to this day, but still, it’s a good puppy. It was, and still is, a source of pure joy. Unfortunately, I set myself up for a rude awakening when I adopted a friend for her the following year, a six- or seven-month-old puppy who looked like he’d never lived in a home. It took him years to be fully domesticated and to this day his older sister still sometimes has to tell me he needs to go outside. It’s been tiring and frustrating, but despite all that, its overall effect on my life has been hugely positive and I wouldn’t give it up for the world“, Rebecca Watson also testified.
The influencer eventually made a plea in favor of pets, explaining that although, scientifically speaking, she would fall into the 45% of dog owners “reporting an abject mess” at least for the first few months after adopting an animal, despite the damage caused, “the emotional cost, the financial cost, the mental cost, it was all worth it”.
“They are often bought as gifts, but they are extraordinarily destructive and annoying”
She also touched on the sensitive subject of people who just assume they can handle a puppy and “think animals are disposable”
“Shelters are full of perfectly normal dogs that people they threw them away because of the very real challenge of caring for them. This goes for a multitude of animals of any age to be honest, but especially puppies because they are so cute and often bought as gift, but they are extraordinarily destructive and disruptive to the average life of people who don’t have dogs.” said Rebecca Watson.
