Yesterday, I was the keynote speaker at the HABRI conference. HABRI is an organization that promotes research on the human-animal bond as it impacts physical and emotional health. I was amazed at the wealth of research available on this subject and the participants’ passion.

When I was 10 days old, my father brought home my first best friend. No, it wasn’t a stuffed bear or a doll. It was Bruno, one of several puppies born “out of wedlock” to a neighbor’s dog who had gone into heat and escaped from her backyard. Bruno became my friend, protector, and constant companion. He was the beginning of my lifetime love of animals.

Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Anxious Generation, has a theory about why there has been a dramatic rise in mental health disorders among young adults since 2015 when smartphones became available. He suggests people become more depressed and anxious when they feel socially disconnected and lose the face-to-face contact that leads to meaningful connections. In 2017, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released a report indicating that almost half of the U.S. population........

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