A new study published in Scientific Reports examines how dog-related activities impact our well-being.  The authors studied 58 dog-human activities and found—not surprisingly!—that most of them improved the owners’ sense of life satisfaction and well-being.

The researchers acknowledge that most studies of dog owners show that having a dog is good for our mental health, but they sought to go deeper, exploring how dozens of different dog-focused activities impact owners.

The activities were classified as either direct (such as walking or petting a dog) or indirect (socializing with other dog owners, shopping for your dog, etc.).  The direct activities were further broken down into the categories of active, passive, and neutral (brushing your dog vs. sitting near her, for example).

The researchers looked at how these 58 dog-human interactions impacted owners’ emotions and mental states, studying what types of interactions give us certain positive feelings like calmness or excitement and which ones provoke negative feelings like worry or frustration.

Our negative feelings are mostly triggered by unwanted canine behaviors like barking, chewing, and aggression between dogs.  Feelings like sadness and guilt were found to be associated with things like caring for an old dog, unsuccessful training, or leaving the dog home alone.

Our positive feelings are also influenced by the types of things we do with our dogs.  They can be broken into high and low arousal categories, i.e. excitement vs. relaxation.

Positive high arousal dog-human interactions include walking, exercising, training, playing, cuddling, and greeting.  Positive low arousal interactions include snuggling and sleeping with your dog, or just watching your dog.

Caring and providing for our dogs (activities like feeding and grooming) generally provoke positive feelings about the self, including independence and autonomy, and also give us a sense of routine, responsibility, and purpose.

Owners also reported a sense of satisfaction and personal growth when they accomplished tasks like training dogs or even simply reading and learning about dogs.

As other studies have also shown, the authors found that many dog-human activities improve our social lives.  Going out with our dogs increases our social interactions.  Owners noted that their dogs are a good way to connect with other people.

Interacting with dogs can also boost self-esteem and self-acceptance.  A dog’s enthusiastic greeting and licking can make us feel loved and accepted…unconditionally!

Interested in learning more about the benefits of pet ownership?  Check out our blog post on how pet ownership can improve mental health.