Dogs are known for their loyalty and friendliness, but one Berkshire woman has found pooches can also help her unwind from the stress and rigours of the city.

Four professionals were invited to a café in Hackney on Thursday to experience how four-legged friends can have positive psychological and physiological effects at the Pet a Puppy Stressbuster Clinic.

Organised by the Kennel Club and also featuring former world champion turned tv personalist Iwan Thomas, the event was a taster ahead of the clinic heading to ExCel London on October 21 and 22 as part of London’s biggest dog event, Eukanuba Discover Dogs.

Workers’ heart rates and blood pressure were measured after they performed a timed crossword, before they were allowed 15 minutes of play time with the dogs.

The same tests were then carried out, with psychologists noting a marked drop in both heart rate and blood pressure after a session with the pooches.

And for 44-year-old Sinead McDermott, from Twyford, the difference before and after time with the dogs was palpable.

“I noticed it straight away just by sitting next to the dog,” said Sinead, a midwife at St Mary’s in Paddington. “It was a really lovely dog called Willow. He was really friendly and warm and when I was stroking him I felt really relaxed, it was lovely.

“I don’t have a dog personally. I normally try and de-stress by doing exercise. But it’s definitely made me wonder about whether I’ll change my mind on getting one later on.

“Not a lot of my family or friends have dogs, which is a shame. To have that opportunity would be wonderful, but I haven’t got that I’m afraid.

“One of the biggest stresses of my job is actually staff shortages and when that happens, the remainder of the staff have to cover for people who are not there or for those who are sick.

“Our work load is pretty high as it is, but it’s made even higher when people aren’t there and it can be really stressful.”

Organisers believe the concept has reinforced the ideal dogs have an overwhelmingly positive effect on human welfare.

Caroline Kisko, secretary of the Kennel Club, added: “This is a very interesting experiment – we’re all fairly certain that dogs are good for us, but what we’re doing here is actually proving that.

“We’ve got people who are very stressful jobs with busy lives. We’re checking their heart rate and blood pressure before giving them time with these lovely puppies.

“And we are finding the puppies are destressing those individuals, really showing that dogs do a great deal of good for us.

“We put the pressure on them and made a test – they didn’t have it easy and had to step up to the mark, but then afterwards they were calmer because of the dogs.

“Dogs are non-critical - they’re not sat thinking ‘you haven’t stroked me enough’ or ‘you’ve been at work for too long’, they don’t judge us, they don’t do anything but give us love.”