Can Fido and Whiskers Enrich Children’s Lives?

Joyce Hesselberth

 Pediatricians are asked pet-related questions all the time. What’s the right age to care for a pet? The best way to discuss a pet’s demise? Do we get rid of the cat if one child is allergic to him? Will the dog bite the baby? For such a tremendously widespread phenomenon as pet ownership, there has been very little research to steer by. But now researchers are looking at a range of questions, in normal child development, in childhood obesity, in traumatized children and in autism.
Dogs, you might say, are having their day.