Pets Magazine October 2018

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Vet connections. A growing raft of studies has shown that pets can help with numerous issues linked to mental health from depression and PTSD to addictions, stress and feelings of loneliness. Mental health campaigner Vanessa Holbrow from Burnham on Sea, Somerset has been helped on a lifechanging level by the power of a similar connection. Vanessa’s Border Terrier, ‘Sir Jack Spratticus’, a rescue from Border Terrier Welfare, won the dog hero competition, Friends for Life, at Crufts 2018. Jack, for short, is credited with changing Vanessa’s life, helping her to live with complex mental health illnesses, by giving Vanessa purpose, permission to be and find a sense of self, companionship and stability. Vanessa explains: “Jack had such a bad start in life. It took me a year to train him in order for us to be able to walk in local dog friendly areas, for example, a 7-mile Generated Independence in stretch of beach, on our August 2017 and started door step. This just shows training to be an official what love and patience can assistance dog to Vanessa. do. His needs, I strongly Vanessa chose to go down sensed, mirrored my own to the route alone, so Jack is a degree; put simply, due to now an Owner Trained inappropriate early life 'Assistance Dog for Mental Health', independent of any organisation. Wherever they go, Jack’s status as an ‘Assistance Dog for Mental Health’, stimulates conversation, raises awareness, and helps combat prejudice. Jack is a brilliant advocate for the crucial role dogs play for those living with mental health illnesses. Jack has given Vanessa Vanessa & Jack experiences.” Vanessa was determined not to give up on Jack, and through long hours of patience and training, Vanessa says: “Jack now helps to raise awareness of mental health issues and he is my family. I don’t know what I would do without him.” Jack was accepted by the organisation Canine Pets Magazine the motivation and passion to speak on local radio, the confidence to speak in front of the camera for local television, write articles and help organisations including Rethink and Beat & Time to Change. Together, Vanessa and Jack have raised thousands of pounds for mental health charities. “Jack has been an integral part of maintaining my physical connections to the world,” Vanessa explains.
Vet An otherwise isolated person can become more a part of their community by the simple act of walking their dog or chatting about their pet to another person. The responsibility of looking after a pet can also give a sense of achievement and add important routine to a day. Dr David Cliff, a Personal Development Coach at Gedanken, explains: “The presence of an animal can have a supportive and calming effect on people. Stroking pets, induces a sense of well-being, often creating blood pressure reduction. The warmth of contact, the brisk dog walk “The care of an animal and the companionship it brings can bring meaning to one's life...” “He enables me to go out and meet with other dog owners. Regularity in seeing people is paramount to continuing a friendship and Jack has made a significant difference with this. This has been an invaluable reminder that other people are there and that they may care about me. This is a to maintain fitness, the cats calming purr, all of these offer owners’ gifts that are hard to place a value upon but we would be clearly more impoverished without.” A joint Cats Protection and Mental Health Foundation study showed how cats can helpful, followed by a third of respondents who described stroking a cat as a calming and helpful activity. Dr Cliff explains: “The care of an animal and the companionship it brings can bring meaning to one's life, personal enrichment and has been known to reduce chronically unfamiliar concept for me”. help improve mental health. suicidal behaviour and encourage people to rework their lives. “We live in a world of increasingly single person households and many have described loneliness as almost a disease state in our society. The research involved over 600 cat- and non-catowning “Pets often offer at least in respondents, with part, an antidote to that, half of them describing particularly amongst people themselves as currently who are, for example, having a mental health housebound, geographically problem. The survey found isolated, have difficulty that 87% of people who maintaining adult owned a cat felt it had a relationships, have mental positive impact on their health problems, learning wellbeing, while 76% said disabilities and other they could cope with challenges that limit or everyday life much better qualify human interpersonal thanks to the company of contact.” their feline friends. Half of the cat owners felt that their cat's presence and companionship was most Pets Magazine
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Pets Magazine October 2018

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