Stress hormone: cortisol

Did you know:
Research has shown that simply petting a dog, lowers the stress hormone cortisol, while the social interaction between people and their dogs, actually increases level of their feel – good hormone oxytocin ( the same hormone that bonds mothers to babies ).
In fact an astonishing 84% of post traumatic stress disorder patients paired with a service dog reported a significant reduction in symptoms, and 40% were able to decrease their medications.

Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine