As I write this, I'm pretty mellow.
You see, my wife, Connie, and our friend, Sandi Scott, and I just took a powerful drug together. We sat on our living room rug and self-medicated.
Don't worry, the drug we took is perfectly legal. It's called "puppy time."
We simply spread a canvass drop cloth on the floor and let our five border collie puppies paddle around. Being only 2½-weeks-old, they operate at top energy only when they are nursing from their mothers, then they snooze.
But today they fought off sleep long enough to wobble around, climb tentatively and topple over our arms. They mistook our noses for mommy's nipples and gently pawed our cheeks and lips. After about 15 minutes they gathered in a puppy pile, yawned a bit and nodded off.
And it was a sleep that opened for us the well of the world's restfulness and peace. All three of us humans smiled silly grins. We easily could have joined the pups for a nap. And I recalled how my mother always advised me to imitate a dog when I was having trouble sleeping. I should just match the way it took a deep breath in, and blow it all out, along with all my cobwebs of worry.
The comedian Steve Martin used to say we should give each president of the United States a banjo because no one can make war, or say or do anything mean or hurtful, while playing a banjo.
I think puppies and dogs in general are such strong medicine that we should give one to each citizen to caress and care for. If we could spread the practice of puppy time, we surely could fuel a huge economic leap forward by reversing the tide of rising health care costs.
Connie, Sandi and I spent a magnificent Monday morning a few days before with a wonderful crowd of folks at Oak Crest DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb. Abbie, the mother of the pups, and Cley, another border collie that belongs to Sandi, walked the halls of the central building, greeting people and allowing them to pet until their hearts were content. All the people at Oak Crest expressed such fulsome appreciation that we knew we had to make a return visit soon.
Laboratory tests have shown that when a human strokes a dog, the bodies of both pet and person give a squirt of oxytocin into their brains. Oxytocin is a natural mellowing agent. It's the hormone that has the power to make us less mean and manipulative; it can make us more calm, secure, loving and kind.
Studies have also shown that when people have animals to care for, they live happier, more productive and longer lives. They have something to live for and they know they are needed.
The Puppies Behind Bars charity builds on this truth and arranges for prison inmates to raise and train puppies to be companion animals. They then place those dogs with soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
This simple process brings profoundly positive changes to the lives of both prisoners and the warriors – people who could otherwise easily fall into despair.
All my life I have known what puppies and dogs have meant to me, how they calm and soothe and help me make more sense of the world. But it has become clear only gradually that my response is not rare, but nearly universal, and the power of pets is truly a deeply serious matter.
Yes, we must beware of the irresponsible way some families give pets as presents at Christmas, then abandon them the moment there is any muss and fuss.
But we would need far fewer therapists and prison cells for our youth if more of them had the real responsibility of caring for an animal. And we would need far fewer pills for our elders if we would enable them to keep their beloved pets at home or in retirement centers.
• John Seraphine, a retired Lutheran minister, raises sheep, trains working border collies and writes at Heatherhope Farm on the outskirts of Sycamore. You may follow his blog at heatherhopefarm.com or contact him at heatherhopefarm@gmail.com.