Vince

_{Family and friends can’t be with us furrever.}

^{By Vincent Nguyen | April 10, 2023 12:26pm PST}

^{_{Image by Sven Lachmann from Pixabay}}

Having a dog is obviously beneficial to human beings. They’re a man’s or woman’s best friend and can help you through rough times. It’s been proven through countless research and studies that can make you live longer.

However, the cost of obtaining and maintaining one is likely the reason why many of us don’t have one.

So that got me thinking, if we can live a longer and healthier life into our golden years by having a dog, why not have some sort of government-funded program in place to make it possible for low-income people to do so?

I know that other forms of pets like cats could easily fall into this discussion, but I chose to focus this piece specifically on dogs because they’re a unique breed that demands special attention in terms of human-like caring.

Here’s a short article on therapy dogs tasked to help 911 operators deal with stress and provide them with emotional support. Apparently, they’re the first assistant dogs to work full-time in a 911 call centre in North America.

_{^{Photo by Richard Lam}}

The point of this article is to show you that anyone could benefit from having a furry companion. Having them around is a definite booster and probably the best supplement to our overall health.

Examples like this show how a dog can heal us and perhaps help reduce the chances of something more severe from happening later on in life.

I can’t tell you how much I personally love watching pug videos on Youtube. They’re such adorable creatures that make me feel much better as if they’ve relieved all of the stress that I might have in a given day.

I mean, if watching pug videos can satisfy me like this, I can only assume what owning one would do.

So again, why don’t we have a government-funded program for low-income individuals?

Obviously it’s the money. Where is the money going to come from, right? Which is a valid question and I think the majority of the people would disapprove of a ‘strange’ government funded dog program.

Fair enough.

But much like this PaRx program in Canada, which is a nature prescription program for people to spend more time outdoors, this dog-funded program is similar in concept in that at first glance it seems somewhat quirky, but it could and would do wonders.

So for the sake of this argument let me give you some of the various ways that it can be funded. Just to spark a light bulb in your head.

There are a few that I could think of off the top of my head that could pay for this initiative. All it takes is a little creativity, and hopefully, is reasonable enough to gain acceptance from the public, of course.

For example, a new micro tax implementation like raising the prices of many premium goods, events, and services by just a dollar (it could be called a companion tax).

Perhaps slightly restructuring yearly budgets taken from various city departments.

And/or taxing the lottery corporations (casinos and lottery tickets purchased) so that jackpots are reduced and the reduced amount would go towards this dog funded program.

I honestly haven’t really done the math on what the numbers would actually look like overall, so just take this as an idea and nothing too serious, at least not yet anyway, hopefully.

The point is, this shouldn’t be about how or where to come up with the revenue, but instead, it should be about how this could benefit human beings in society.

A pilot project in its infancy would be an excellent start in order to gauge the demand and budget for this program.

Still though, I have to be unbiased here, and sure, people can choose to adopt, which is cheaper or even free.

But what about the emergency costs? What about the unexpected expenses that apply to these four-legged hooves?

Adopting a pet is just an ‘upfront’ reduction, as the emergency expenses to maintain a dog are going to cost you the same as a purchased one from a breeder, if not more. This leaves potential low-income dog owners with little to no options of ever obtaining one, it’s pretty much off the table.

Those who are well off with a nice salary are able to reap the benefits of living a healthy life, as per usual. So this is where my idea of having a dog-funded program to help low-income earners came about.

How it’d work is really quite simple.

You would have to submit an application and prove to the government that your income from the previous year is below a certain threshold via tax returns. Once approved for this program, every single year thereafter in which you own a dog, you’ll be eligible to apply for an emergency fund if a problem ever arises. The bill of that unexpected veterinary cost would be reduced by something like 50-90% depending on your income.

Having this program available would give so many low-income earners the peace of mind that they can confidently take care of their furry pets, without worrying about the unexpected financials, further reducing stress and increasing happiness levels for themselves and society.

The positive gains and impact that this program could have on humanity is exciting and intriguing to think about.

This could also potentially reduce government spendings on hospital visits per year by a wide margin.

It’s definitely something worth considering for a healthier community.