Pet Dogs: A Student's Best Friend

Abstract

As they say, a dog can be called a man's best friend. Many dog lovers attest to the emotional attachment they develop with their pets because they have invested their time in caring and loving their tail-wagging pets, which in turn gets to shower their owners with their sweet gestures as well. In turn, caring for pets became a way to cope with emotional difficulties. With this, the researchers believe that maybe students can reduce their stress in simple ways. For this study, qualitative research was used. The study utilized phenomenology as its qualitative research design for it has an inductive approach which will discuss the experiences of selected participants that own a pet dog in the Junior and Senior Highschool of Saint Mary's College, Q.C. Denzin and Lincoln(2005) defined, "Qualitative research as a multifaceted research method involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to the subject matter." The descriptive nature of qualitative research enables readers to understand the meaning attached to the experience, the distinct nature of the problem, and the impact of the problem. Based on the data gathered, pet dogs can truly help lessen the stress of their owners in various ways. The majority of the eight students that the researchers interviewed said thatdogs can be heartwarming and provide companionship. But in fact dogs can really relieve the stress of oneself. Based on the data gathered, there can be positive and negative experiences in owning a dog. Informants said that they can have a better connection with other people through their dogs. The students can also have their connection by relating with each other on their experiences of taking care of their dogs. Based on the data gathered, selected students from JHS and SHS said that they bought a dog for companionship and a stress reliever. Owning a dog can be tedious. So before having a dog, one must ensure that they are capable and ready for the responsibilities of taking care of a dog. A dog's life span isn't as long as humans', so if one is planning on having a dog, they must also prepare themselves for loss or complications regarding their dogs along the way. Pet dogs can truly help lessen the stress of their owners in various ways, like playing with them or simply making them feel missed after a long tiring day. The researchers can connect their findings through a study that was conducted in 2003 by J.S.J Odendaal, which showed that when humans pet dogs, their bodies release oxytocin, a hormone associated with not only happiness, but bonding and affection as well. The researchers conducted their research on a small group of students in St Mary's College Quezon City and dog owners. For future researchers, interview with the interviewees alongside their dogs to observe their overall emotions, to experience what they're feeling at the moment. Since we have used students as our informants, we would like to see future researchers conduct interviews on adults as well.