New puppy Lily brings joy to my heart

A RECENT Swedish study of over 3.4million individuals investigated the potential health benefits of dog ownership.

Those who took part were aged 40 to 80 and were followed for up to 12 years. Just over 13 per cent had pet dogs.

The researchers found that dog ownership had a dramatic effect — cutting the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 36 per cent.

That was with people who live alone, but in larger households, dogs still lowered deaths from heart disease by 15 per cent.

It’s a short step from reading that to wondering whether dogs (or maybe I should say, pets) help keep us young. Something to love, take care of, exercise, play with, say silly things to, stop you thinking of yourself, cuddle … what’s not to like? I use face cream to keep wrinkles at bay (I wish!) but a better bet might be a dog to keep stress on the back burner.

A dog, I say … or two … Or three. Yes, I just made life more complicated — and maybe three times as healthy, too! This is the new baby.

Two years after my beloved Bonnie’s death, my yearning for a sweet little Maltese would not cease. Bonnie was from the RSPCA and I’d made a vow I would only ever rescue a pet, as the centres are full of needy cats and dogs longing to be taken care of.

But my search for a Maltese failed — so this 13-week-old scrap came from a lovely family in Devon (not a commercial breeder) who were going to keep her but decided to let her go to the right home. And that means me!

I love our rescue dogs, Sophie (Chihuahua cross) and Hattie (Pomeranian cross) very much, but now they have a wee ‘sister’. And why not? She is my little pure white Lily, and an early Christmas gift to myself. Just to help my heart along, you see.