Pets are often said to be helpful with a person’s well-being. How? Find some examples. Pets, specifically dogs, have always been labeled 'Man's Best Friend'. I think, A good best friend should be loyal and understanding and have a positive affect on you. Everyone knows, dog's are the most notorious, of all pets, to possess these traits; hence the label.
    That being said, I will use myself as an example. As you can see in the picture, I have a dog, Foxy, she is a daschund (weenie dog) and I've had her for 6 years. 
    For a dog, she has an extremely vivid personality. She is very energetic as well as affectionate and loyal. She is also the center of the family. For most of her life, she has been the source of this family's laughter and pure joy. Obviously, she would be helpful to our well being. Secondly, having a pet is also proven to evoke responsibility because you have to feed, bathe, and walk the dog. 
    Furthermore, if someone is the key & source to your happiness and contentment then they are helpful to your well being because they keep you pleasant, sane, and kind-hearted. Do you have a pet? If so, do they have a positive (health) affect on you? If not , do you believe pets can have  such a big affect on a person's health or overall well being? 

“3... 2...1!” Ben exclaimed. 
 
     Jogging patiently around the house, he searched for his sister on a cloudy Saturday  morning. Their  mother and father had been arguing again, so like usual, they played hide and seek. This time was better than the others; there weren’t any breaking plates or  ‘bad words’ or any loud bumping or crashing. So this time, he crept down the  hall. Then, suddenly heard a faint giggling; it was coming from the closet. He stopped. 

     “Silly girl, she has to be in here.” He thought. 
 
     With  a victorious grin on his face, he snatched at the knob and opened the door. To
Ben’s surprise, the closet was a desolate abyss, with the exception of a white
hole. Ben’s eyes, glistening with mischief and curiosity, were guiding his feet
deeper and deeper into the closet. He shut the door behind him and began to
crawl, on an eternal strip of onyx velvet, towards the hole. The closer he got
to the hole, the louder the giggles became, and with every reach he responded
with an awestruck gasp.
            
     Once on the other side, he got off his knees and brushed his clothes off.
When he lifted his eyes, he was face to face with a stunning deep gold blanketed
beach. The sun was setting, painting the sky an array of violet, mango, and cotton candy. The
sea, a deep turquoise, caressed the goldenrod sand. That familiar laughter,
interrupting Ben’s delusive fantasy, was coming from a distant cove. He
deviously scurried behind it and put his ear to the wall. Realizing his attempt
was futile; he walked closer to the entrance of the cove and stooped behind a
big rock. There were two young mermaids and a boy around his age, 11.  Ben was right; they were the source of  giggling. The three were splashing around in the water. 
              
     For an abrupt second, Ben and the group make eye contact. The mermaids
gasp and swim away hastily. The boy, cinnamon haired and freckle-faced, stays but gets out of the water to
introduce himself. He walks over to the rock as Ben gets off his knees. 
 
     “Hi,  nice to meet you. The name’s Samson.” He reaches out to shake Ben’s hand with a
benevolent smile on his face.  
 
     “I’m Ben. Where exactly am I?” Ben responded. 
 
     “You,  my chap, are in Paradise.” Samson contently  replied.

     "Well,  how’d you get here?” Ben inquired. 

     “I’ve  been here since the beginning of time… or at least, that’s what we were told.”
Samson replied solemnly. At that moment, a sound similar to  that of the grandfather clock in Ben’s sitting room chimed, loud and strong.

     "Twas really nice meeting you. I should really be getting back home. My mum will be
quite frightened.” Ben hurriedly claimed. He started running back to the white hole, located in the sand near a big  mass of rocks. 

     "Twas nice meeting you too, Ben!” shouted Samson after an inattentive Ben. “He’ll be back, he’ll be back.” Samson whispered to himself. He grinned to himself and dove back into the water in the cove. Hastily
jumping into the hole, Ben quickly reminisced on what he saw. 
 
“This couldn’t have been real, I can’t believe it. I have to tell Bridgette, or is it
best if I keep it a secret?"  Ben’s thoughts started to become an intertwined ball
of confusion. He finally reached the closet door. 
 
     “Ben! Ben!” His little sister, Bridgette called after him.  “Beeeeen!”
She exclaimed. 

     “Yes, Bridgette!” an irritated Ben cried out.  
 
    “Where have you been? You left me hiding for two hours! Its 12o’clock
now!” she angrily inquired. 

     “Two hours? It seemed to be….I was only there for a few minutes….. This is quite
absurd.” He mumbled to himself. 

     “What are you talking about, you twit? Answer me! Where have you been?” she prodded. 
 
    “I was ….I was in the backyard.” Ben shortly responded to assuage his sister.
            
     The next morning, Ben decided he would trek back to Paradise; getting
there, without anyone figuring out, was the dilemma. Bridgette,
his overbearing, manipulating sister, was definitely the biggest obstacle.
He meandered down the grand twisted staircase, but before he got to the last
step, his father was already at the table, his mother over the stove. He took a
deep sigh and strode over to the kitchen table. 
 
     “Good morning, mother and father.” said Ben. “Good morning, Ben.” his parents
simultaneously responded. 
 
     “Where’s Bridgette?” Ben asked. “She’s washing up, so your father can drive her to ballet
class. And I will be going to the market.”replied his mother.
 
    “Yes!  I can get to paradise without the little distraction. Maybe this time I can see
more and do more and make more friends.”  Ben frantically gathered to
himself. 

     “Oh, alright.”Ben quickly replied. 
 
    In a few minutes, Ben had devoured his breakfast. He fled from the table. He sped
upstairs to his bathroom to wash up. He changed his clothes and crept
downstairs. The house was quiet. “Mum must be at the market.” He thought eagerly to himself.  
    
    He ran around the corner of the stairs. There stood the ‘oh-so- familiar’ closet
door, the gateway to his most illusory dreams. Snatching the door open, with great anticipation, he stepped inside and closed it behind him. He began to crawl, just as he did before. The white hole became
closer.

     When he arrived, near the sea boulders, he made a beeline to the cove where he met
Samson. Once at the cove, he stood near the entrance. Samson was sitting in the
water, with an infinite grin on his face. 
 
     “I thought you’d be back, Ben!” exclaimed Samson. “Come have a seat.” He motioned
for Ben to sit beside him. 

     “How old are you?” asked Ben “12. How old are you?’’ Samson replied. “11.” Ben
responded. 
    
    “When’s your birthday? Do have brothers or sisters? What school do you attend? Where are your mother and father?” Ben’s questions shot out of hismouth like bullets from a gun. 
    
    “Alright, alright, Ben. Slow down, we have time.’’ Samson chuckled. “Do you want to meet everyone else?” Samson asked. 
 
     “Sure! Where are they?” Ben anxiously replied. “Follow me!” with a chuckle, and a quick
hop out of the water, Samson dashed out of the cove with Ben right behind him. 
 
     Latterly, they arrived at an extravagantly constructed tree house. The two climbed up the
rope ladder. Sitting on the floor, were three boys.  One was tall and lanky with long, blonde, wavy hair. The other two were twins, brunette bobbed hair and freckles.
 
    "’This is Richard, and they are Tim and Tom.” Samson introduced them. 
    
    “Great to meet you.” replied Ben. 
    
    "Nice to meet you!” replied the twins simultaneously. 
    
    “How do you do?” Exclaimed Richard as he  shook Ben’s hands. 

     The boys ventured all over Paradise with Samson as their guide. Then they sat and
talked in the tree house for what seemed to be hours. They told jokes and
stories. They talked about why they were here and how they got here, their
favorite places in Paradise, and their lives at home. This portion of the
conversation seemed to be omitted by Samson. This seemed very strange to Ben. 
 
     “Where do you live, Samson?” Ben curiously interrogated. At that very moment the
grandfather clock struck.     
 
     Before  Samson could answer the question Ben exclaimed “I have to get home!” “So do I!
Me too!” cried the rest of the boys. 
     
    They  all ran out of the tree house and down the ladder to all their white holes. Like
before, Ben opened the closet door, but this time felt different. While he was
crawling he thought it felt like his body was stretching and transforming with
every reach. ‘’But that couldn’t be’’, he thought. He crept down the hall. He undeniably heard a woman’s
voice. He stopped for a second because he couldn’t help but notice a reflection
in the mirror.  
      
    To his stupefaction, the reflection he saw was his. He had transformed drastically.
His rosy boyish face had transposed into a pale, bearded, and muscular face. His
hair was no longer a curly, chocolate colored, shiny‘do but crisp, above-ear
bob. He had sprouted tremendously. He was undoubtedly not an 11 year old boy
anymore. He was a man. Ben had unfathomably spent almost 10 years in Paradise
running from life and its obstacles. As he shed a tear, he meandered down the
hall ready to capitulate  to his fate.