7 Childhood Benefits Of Living With a Dog

Did you grow up with a dog? We did, and we loved every minute of it. Can you believe there are actually benefits to growing up with one? There are, and this article � �7 Childhood Benefits Of Living With a Dog� - outlines just seven, but really there are so many more!

For those of us that had dogs, we can hardly imagine what our childhood years would have been like without our four-legged best friends at our side! We're so grateful to our parents for letting us have dogs when we were kids. Dogs taught us all about unconditional love, and how to stay optimistic no matter how bad we might have been feeling. They never yelled at us or judged us; they simply wagged their tails to greet us and snuggled up beside us when we went to sleep at night. There's just something so precious and magical about this bond between dog and child! There are so many benefits to this relationship.

First of all, we learned how to share! We loved to feed our dogs, especially when we weren't supposed to � like, for example, under the table at dinner time, especially those choice items we didn't want to eat ourselves. We were always generous but made sure not to feed them chocolate, which is not good for them. We also learned how to take care of them properly, with proper nutrition, house-training, and lots of grooming to keep them happy. Bath time was always fun!

We didn't realize it at the time, but growing up with a dog can also decrease allergies. Research is now showing that kids may develop allergies from living in homes that are actually too clean! Having dogs and other animals around at an early age can help bolster the immune system.

For more of the 7 Childhood Benefits Of Living With a Dog, please visit the I Heart Dogs website, below!