Citations

Dr. Curtis Welch was worried: Multiple online destinations cover this story. For one example, see Christopher Klein’s “The Sled Dog Relay That Inspired the Iditarod” for the History channel’s website at www.history.com (https://www.history.com/news/the-sled-dog-relay-that-inspired-the-iditarod), originally published on March 10, 2014, and updated August 31, 2018.

More than half of US households own pets: See the American Veterinary Medical Association’s “U.S. pet ownership statistics” at https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/reports-statistics/us-pet-ownership-statistics.

By some estimates, 12 percent of adults with children under the age of eighteen adopted pets because of the pandemic: See Packaged Fact’s “U.S. Pet Market Outlook, 2020-2021: The COVID-19 Impact (June 2020 Update),” published June 22, 2020, Pub ID: LA15558259, https://www.packagedfacts.com/Pet-Outlook-13135569/

A growing body of evidence links dogs to good health: See the Center for Disease Control’s “Healthy Pets, Healthy People” page at https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/health-benefits/index.html. Also see: Maria Cohut, “Dogs: Our Best Friends in Sickness and in Health,” for Medical News Today at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322868.

dog ownership is linked to a 24 percent reduced risk of dying from anything: Mwenya Mubanga, et al., “Dog Ownership and Survival After a Major Cardiovascular Event. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes 12, no. 10 (2019). doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.118.005342.

In 2014, Scottish scientists calculated that owning a dog, particularly later in your life, can turn back the aging clock: See Zhiqiang Feng, et al., “Dog Ownership and Physical Activity in Later Life: A Cross-sectional Observational Study,” Preventive Medicine 66 (September 2014): 101–6. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.06.004. Epub 2014 Jun 12.

dogs in fact introduced Darwin to the systematic study of nature: See Dr. David Allan Feller’s thesis “Heir of the Dog: Canine Influences on Charles Darwin’s Theories of Natural Selection,” May 2005, University of Hawaii Library, https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/11648/1/uhm_ma_3202_r.pdf.

especially among pedigree dogs: See the 2014 Pedigree Breed Health Survey at https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health-and-dog-care/what-we-do-for-dog-health/supporting-scientific-research/kennel-club-health-research/2014-pedigree-breed-health-survey/.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in older dogs: See T. W. Lewis, et al., “Longevity and Mortality in Kennel Club Registered Dog Breeds in the UK in 2014,” Canine Genet Epidemiol 5, no. 10 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40575-018-0066-8.

In 2020, historical geographers who analyze the changing relationship between humans and animals: See Eric Tourigny, “Do All Dogs Go to Heaven? Tracking Human-animal Relationships through the Archaeological Survey of Pet Cemeteries,” Antiquity 94, no. 378 (2020): 1614–29.

One in three Pugs cannot walk properly: See Cecilia Rohdin, et al., “High Prevalence of Gait Abnormalities in Pugs,” Vet Record 182, no. 6 (February 2018): 167. DOI: 10.1136/vr.104510. Epub 2018 Feb 5.

Seven out of ten Dobermans carry one or both genes for dilated cardiomyopathy: See Theresa-Bernadette Mausberg, et al., “A Locus on Chromosome 5 Is Associated with Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers,” PLoS One 6, no. 5 (2011): e20042. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020042. Epub 2011 May 20.

Veterinary medicine is as much as twenty years behind human medicine: See William Grimes, “Vets and Physicians Find Research Parallels,” New York Times, September 11, 2012, Section D, Page 1.

The One Health initiative isn’t new but has become more important: See https://onehealthinitiative.com/.