Author Amanda Brookfield was in despair after her mum died and a post-divorce relationship went wrong.
The chick-lit writer has published 15 novels but it was a dog who prompted her first non-fiction book and saved her from a breakdown.
Called For the Love of a Dog, it tells how Mabel, an eight-week-old golden doodle enters her life and saves her.
Amanda, 59, said: “Following the death of my mother and the end of a post-divorce relationship, my world fell apart and desolation closed in.
Friends warned her that getting a puppy to “cheer herself up” would restrict her freedom but the mum-of-two decided to go ahead.
Amanda said: “Mabel is only a dog, but she has helped me have faith in the world again. Just being around her boosts my oxytocin and serotonin leels.
“She makes me feel lucky again. She was a project for a middle-aged optimist who had lost her optimism, a writer who couldn’t write, a daughter who had lost her mum, a lover who had lost her love. She was Something To Do and still is every day.”
Studies show that dogs reduce stress, anxiety and depression, ease loneliness, encourage exercise and improve your all-around health.
People with dogs have lower blood pressure and are less likely to develop heart disease. Just playing with dogs has been shown to elevate oxytocin and dopamine, creating positive feelings and bonding for both the person and their pet.
Recent findings from the University of Vienna suggest that dogs can also sense emotions and even differentiate between good and bad ones.
“Since dogs share their natural environment with us humans, our emotional vocalisations are likely to be of relevance to them,” says Annika Huber, author of the University of Vienna study. “It indicates our close relationship.”
- For the Love of a Dog is published this month in paperback by Head of Zeus, priced £8.99 from bookshops or online.
