Has the age old debate been solved?  You be the judge….

If you don’t see the video, click here.

Every now and then bad stories come out about dogs and children. That’s when I hear from young parents and new parents about how they fear having a dog in their home. For all those negative stories there must be a hundred or more stories like this where dogs make all the positive difference for kids.

Here’s big barks to all those wonderful dogs who make us and our world better!

Thanks to the Rocky Mountain News for this article.

At-risk children pair with rescued dogs in Pawsitive ways
By Julie Hutchinson, Special to the Rocky
Monday, May 26, 2008

Put any kid with any dog and you’ll see two happy faces.

And if that kid and that dog share histories of abuse and abandonment, you’ll see a bond develop that changes both of their lives.

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How cool is this! Not only do dogs teach children how to be better people; they actually reduce allergies too!

Thanks to The Register for this article.

Dogs reduce allergies in kids
The benefit of mutts as pets
By Lester Haines
Published Tuesday 29th April 2008

German researchers have apparently confirmed that keeping a dog as a family pet will reduce the chance that kids will develop allergies - a finding which backs a theory that having a mutt about the house “trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever”.

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Thanks to The Star for this article.

Abandoned baby girl rescued by stray dogs in eastern India

NEW DELHI (AP) - Stray dogs rescued a baby girl abandoned under a mound of mud and leaves in eastern Indian, a government official said Tuesday.

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I love sharing these stories! So why doesn’t every city and town have a program like this????

Thanks to WRAL.com for this article.

Students Help Socialize Shelter Dogs
By KIM GRIZZARD
The Daily Reflector of Greenville

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Ken and Barbie are not the perfect couple. They have fears to overcome, and they lack social skills, probably due to the way they’ve been sheltered all their lives.

Catherine Brown is helping them work through their issues. But she’s not a therapist; she’s a teenager. And Ken and Barbie aren’t dolls; they’re dogs being cared for at the Humane Society of Eastern Carolina.

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Thanks to MLive.com for this article.

Ikidarod mimics Iditarod Sled Dog Race, teaches teamwork at charter school
by Beth Loechler | The Grand Rapids Press
Friday March 07, 2008

The Ikidarod, a more-than-slightly modified version of the 1,100-mile sled dog race across Alaska, took place at Vista Charter Academy on Thursday morning. Teams of two-legged, fur-free friends pulled wooden sleds across the snow — and asphalt — while more than 600 onlookers cheered and waved posters that read, “Go sled dogs.”

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Thanks to KYPost for this article.

Library Goes To The Dogs …. Happily

For years dogs have played an important role in the lives of many. They can give eyes to the blind, friendship to the lonely and have even been proved to help lower blood pressure and stress levels.

Now man’s best friend is also helping children learn to read.

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