Chanté McCoy's Blog

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1- Pets love unconditionally.

2- Pets are good for your health, improving immunity, mental well-being, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, heart health, and more.

3- Pets strengthen family bonds.

4- Pets — namely dogs — provide a great excuse to exercise.

5- Pets teach children empathy, social skills, and responsibility.

6- Pets give you a chemical boost of feel-good serotonin and dopamine.

7- Pets lessen feelings of loneliness.

8- Pets help you meet people and make new friends.

9- Pets ar...

Pets are good for your social well-being.

Not only do you bond to your pet, but she can also open the doors for meeting others, including possible love connections.

For example, dogs are natural people magnets. With their charm, they lure in others, who want to pet them, talk about them, or find a segue to talk about their own animals and experiences. This is true for people who are otherwise shy. A pet provides a common connection, a subject to which most of us can relate.

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With our busy l...

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[image error]All tests are not equal. Get out the red pen because some are badly designed, destined to be poorly graded. These tests are simply:

No, not referring to those torturous math tests in eighth grade. I’m talking about animal testing.

Since the 1920s, animals from insects, fish, and birds to mice, rats, rabbits, sheep, cats, dogs, and primates have been subjected to testing in the name of public safety. The numbers boggle the mind. According to the ASPCA, more than 15 m...

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©Chanté McCoy

[image error]Geography, whether in this world or that of the imagination, provides the grounding from which all else springs: plants, animals, economy, language, religion, health, politics, etc. If you start with geography, not only will you have a topographical map, but a plan for designing the rest of your creation.

All stories are set in a particular place and time. Geography matters in creating that place, even if you’re going to superimpose buildings and roads. It’s not simply the backd...

The Nevada Farm Bureau Federation and the Nevada Association of Counties—with strong ranching ties—have filed suit against the Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to destroy “excess” mustangs and wild burros*.

In the last decade alone, the BLM has removed 100,000 horses from the western range, but the agency is now struggling with budget constraints and capacity limitations at short- and long-term holding facilities. The plaintiffs claim that the still roaming horses ar...

Pets are good for your well-being, including your immunity.

For example, multiple studies have shown that pets reduce stress and depression. By reducing stress and depression, pets bolster our immune systems, keeping us healthier.

Growing up with pets also strengthens our immunity, lessening our risk for allergies and asthma. It used to be thought that having pets increased our chances of developing allergies. According to a growing number of studies, the opposite is true.

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Allergies are hy...

Pets are good for your heart.

Sure, they fill your heart with love.  But they also do your heart good.

For one, studies repeatedly show that pets reduce stress, anxiety, and blood pressure, all which contribute to heart disease. Less stress and lower blood pressure = less risk of developing heart disease. For example, a study shows that male pet owners have less signs of heart disease (such as lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels) than men without pets.

Pets also encourage more physica...

My beloved Beagle, Buzz, recently turned 15. I know this because, unlike my two rescues who have mystery backgrounds, Buzz came with a certified pedigree, a piece of paper in which I once took pride.

I found my pedigreed pup in a wall of cages filled with young dogs of different breeds. This was standard practice not so long ago. I wasn’t alarmed. Instead, I ignorantly shelled out $500, not knowing what I was buying into: multi-billion dollar business profiting on a factory-style turnaround o...