Celebrate Dog Person Day

What is Dog Person Day?

We can thank our friends at The Farmer’s Dog for coining this heartwarming “holiday,” as they’ve been celebrating Dog Person Day internally for the past decade. This day marks the founding of the company and is used as a time to reflect and remember why they do what they do. 

And this year, they’re inviting dog people everywhere to join the party. The Farmer’s Dog will be highlighting dog lovers from all over and partnering with pet rescues across the country to support their efforts. There will also be Dog Person Day merch up for grabs and special promotions for new customers.

What is a Dog Person?

Some of you may have read this term and felt immediately seen; others might still be wondering if you are, in fact, a dog person. So here’s how to know for sure:

• Do you have an unconditional love for dogs?
• Are you driven by a desire to do the best you can for your dog?
• Is your camera roll full of photos of your dog sleeping, or doing other cute things?
• Are your clothes often covered in dog hair, and you just don’t care?
• Do you think the world is a better place because dogs are in it?

If you answered yes, yes, yes, yes and yes—congratulations, you’re a dog person (and welcome to the pack!). Dog Person Day is a lighthearted way to celebrate the people who love the dogs that make their lives better. So let’s take a moment to recognize all the ways that dogs enhance our lives.

How Our Dogs Help Us Age Better

As if we need more reason to celebrate, a new study out of Switzerland has found that pet ownership is associated with slower mental decline in aging adults. That’s right, our beloved furry friends are not just providers of endless tail wags and unlimited snuggles, they’re actually helping keep our brains sharp as we age—further evidence that we truly don’t deserve dogs, right?

The study, organized by a psychology research group at the University of Geneva, analyzed data from the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe over an 18-year period, to examine the relationship between pet ownership and cognitive decline in adults age 50 and older, and to determine whether there were any distinctions between people who have dogs, cats, birds or fish.

Two specific mental health markers were tracked: Executive functioning (managing multiple tasks and goal-oriented planning) and episodic memory (recalling specific events). The study found that all individuals showed a decline in those two categories as they grew older, however, the mental decline was slower for pet owners than for those with no pets.

Those with dogs experienced a slower decline in memory than those without pets, keeping a sharper memory for longer, including both immediate and delayed recall. Meanwhile, cat owners benefitted from a lower decline in delayed recall and verbal fluency, which is a cognitive ability that involves speaking with ease. There wasn’t a significant link between fish or bird owners and cognitive decline, although of course, those pets can still contribute to a sense of overall happiness. The study’s authors speculated that interaction with dogs and cats provides unique cognitive stimulation, perhaps due to depth, frequency and nature of interaction that these species require.

Younger pet owners may also benefit: The aspects of pet ownership that support brain health, like stress reduction, increased physical activity and increased emotional wellbeing and social interaction can build cognitive reserve, which can help prevent or delay future cognitive decline. 

About The Farmer’s Dog

The Farmer’s Dog has made it their business to celebrate dogs every day and support us dog people in the pursuit of caring for our pups the best way possible.

If you’re not familiar with what they do, The Farmer’s Dog makes human-grade, fresh dog food with recognizable, pronounceable ingredients and a gentle cooking process that retains vital nutrients. All of their recipes are formulated by board-certified veterinary nutritionists to meet or exceed national feeding standards. And it’s shipped right to you in packs that are pre-portioned for your dog’s specific needs.

As a mission-driven company, The Farmer’s Dog is turning their unconditional love for dogs into uncomplicated care. They’ve partnered with pet rescues around the country to promote adoptions and donate food supplies, and poured money into veterinary research to fund residencies, grants and clinical studies across a number of universities, with the intention of advancing scientific understanding of pet nutrition. Their level of care for dogs is evident in everything they do—and as dog people ourselves, this is something we can get behind.

So this Dog Person Day, we hope you join in on the celebration. Give yourself a pat on the back, and check out The Farmer’s Dog, which is supporting dogs and dog people alike, not only on this special holiday, but every other day, too.