Some days you feel like pulling out your hair and screaming out the car window. Stress gets to all of us. How we handle stress varies, and our canine companions are a big help in relieving anxiety and tension.

Just ask Robert Myall, M.D., B.D.S., of Portland, Ore. He performs complex reconstructive facial operations on children by day and spends time with his dogs on evenings and weekends. The dogs balance his hectic life.

"You might say it was just what the doctor ordered," quipped Myall, at a Seattle Kennel Club all-breed dog show earlier this year.

Chairman of the Oregon Health & Science University's Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the School of Dentistry and Medicine, Myall finds Bull Terriers the perfect post-surgery outlet.

Myall and his wife, Lynne, are among the nation's premier Bull Terrier authorities. Myall served as president of the Bull Terrier Club of America in 2000 and 2001, and is a judge of six American Kennel Club breeds.

Being involved with dogs for a quarter century has been therapeutic for him. "Whether it's grooming, feeding, walking or even handling in the show ring, it takes my mind off of surgery and administration," he says.

Since taking the job in Portland in March 2001, Myall has lived in a rented house far from his real home in the Seattle suburb of Bothell, Wash. The move has left him lonely for his family and pets. "It's been a bit of an adjustment," he says. "For a year, it's been one meeting after another .... and living alone in a rental house doesn't lend itself to having a Bull Terrier. Not having one in Portland has left a major void in my life."

"It makes no difference who you are," says animal behaviorist Karen Overall, DVM, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia. "The role a dog can play in your personal life is enormous. They help reduce anxiety," she says.

"We are a needy species. We need to have someone or something to touch, talk to or exercise with. A dog fills that role incredibly well. Because a dog is not judgmental, it is the perfect companion," she says.

Describing her lifestyle, Overall says, "After an intense, busy day, the last thing I want when I come home is intellectual stimulation. I want to lay back and relax with our dogs [three Australian Shepherds]. It's blissful relaxation. Sometimes it's the only time of the day when I can take my mind totally off work."

Overall offers several suggestions for helping people like Myall cope with their stressful life and separation from family:

• Find a neighbor or friend who has a dog that needs exercise. Someone may have a physical ailment that precludes him from regularly walking his dog.

• See if a nearby shelter needs volunteers to exercise its dogs in the evening.

• Buy a guinea pig. Guinea pigs are smart, very trainable, love to be touched and don't require daily walks.

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By Ranny Green