What “dog lovers” have long known is again becoming the topic of scientific research. Now it is officially proven that communication with dogs improves the mood and general condition of their owners.
A new project from the University of Sydney has given extra weight to the well-known expression “a dog is a man’s best friend”. His results showed that people experience reduced feelings of loneliness as early as the first three months after they got a dog.
The PAWS project
PAWS is a long-term controlled study of the relationship between having dogs as pets and mental well-being in society. His data was recently published on the BMC Public Health resource. Over an eight-month period, 71 Sydney residents took part in the study.
The project compared the mental well-being scores of three groups of participants: those who had recently adopted a dog, those who intended to do so but held on during the eight-month study period, and those who had no intention of getting a dog.
Main conclusions
Psychologists at the University’s Charles Perkins Center found that new dog owners reported a reduction in loneliness within three months of adopting a pet, a positive effect that lasted at least until the end of the study.
In addition, participants in the first group also experienced a reduction in bad moods, such as less sadness or fear. But scientists have not yet found evidence that the appearance of a dog directly affects the level of stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
According to Lauren Powell, lead author of the project, 39% of Australian households have dogs. This little study sheds light on the potential benefits that a person’s friends bring to their hosts.
“Some previous projects have proven that human-dog interactions bring certain benefits, such as in nursing homes where dogs help with patient therapy. However, relatively few studies have been published so far in the world on the daily interaction of a person with a dog in the home, says Powell. “While we can’t pinpoint exactly how having a dog and interacting with it has a positive impact on our participants, we do have some speculation.
In particular, many of the new “dog owners” from the first group reported that through daily walks they met and established contacts with their neighbors in the area.”
Short-term human-dog interactions are also known to improve mood, so it’s likely that with more frequent and regular interactions, the positive effects add up and lead to long-term improvements.
In any case, the research model itself minimized the likelihood of an inverse relationship – that is, it was found that it is not an improvement in mood that leads to the decision to get a pet, but, on the contrary, it is the appearance of a four-legged friend that helps a person find positive emotions.
Why are these findings important?
The senior co-author of the project, Professor of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Emmanuel Stamatakis focuses on the social factor. He believes that in today’s hectic world, many have lost their sense of community and social isolation is only increasing over time.
“If having a dog helps you get out and about more, meet other people, and connect with your neighbors, it’s a win-win,” he adds, “which is especially important in old age, when isolation and loneliness often increase. But this is one of the risk factors for the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, the main risk factor for cancer and depression.
What are the next steps?
Psychologists acknowledge that further research is needed to understand the intricacies of the relationship between having a dog and a person’s mental health.
“This area is new and developing. Finding a way to evaluate the relationship and take it into account is only half the problem, especially when you consider that each person’s relationship with a dog can be different, ”they comment.
The group is also currently investigating the impact of having dogs on their owners’ physical activity patterns. The Dog Ownership and Human Health Research Group at the Charles Perkins Center brings together experts in public health, physical activity and exercise, disease prevention, behavior change, health psychology, human-animal interactions, and dog health. One of the goals is to determine how the benefits of dog companionship can be applied practically in the field of public health.