'Best Friends

The media portrays intimacy between humans and dogs in an over exaggerated, yet humorous kind of way; magnifying the quirks in a human-dog relationship that can be studiously perceived as unhealthy, yet undeniably funny.  On season four of the television sitcom Reba, the character Barbra Jean creates a video story documenting her intimate, yet eccentric relationship with her Toy Dog, Brock.  The producers for this episode use lyrics from the TV show, The Courtship of Eddies Father, “Best Friends” (Harry Nilsson 1960) as music for her video.  Barbra Jean eccentrically entertains her dog by playing her flute for it, reading a bedtime story to it, and even consuming a hot dog with it.  She paints the pooches’ paw nails and dresses the furry little creature in pastel colored doggy outfits (Reba Show, 2005).   I think this video strikes a serious chord with many dog owners in our society who might share these same eccentricities of being as much a “goof-ball

” like this Reba Show character; Barbra Jean.  But after reviewing the satire of Barbra Jean with her toy dog, I think society believes dog owners can be emotionally unstable.  The video confirms negative perceptions about dog owners who allow personal pets to dominate them, especially the dog.  This bias perpetuates ideas that dog owners are confused and compensatory, lacking real people friends.  I often find myself struggling to maintain a good sense of balance about life with my dogs through humor.

Now let’s examine the scientific perspective of social psychological interactions between human beings and dogs; this energy driven connection is complex and mysterious in that it entails mutual cooperation between two participating species.  In the first study, The Human Attachment to Dogs (2009), we will consider comparative cognitive studies of visual cognitive ability (VCA) and social cognitive ability (SCA) between humans and dogs.  In the second study, the Psychological Effects of Dog Ownership, by the researcher, Krista Marie Clark Cline (2010) utilizes statistical data on individuals who are actively engaged in dog ownership.  We will examine correlations between individual wellness such as; stress, depression, physical activity and exercise with daily stress factors of multi-tasking, exposing evidence of burdensome psychological effects of dog ownership on people.  I will also clarify questions of how dog ownership impacts the individual versus an existing family system in today’s highly active and complex human society.