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It has been shown time and time again that dogs have a beneficial effect on the health of children and reduce their chances from eczema, asthma and even Crohn’s disease.
But scientists now argue that this is just a one-way street, as four-legged friends who spend time with more children actually have poorer health.
In a questionnaire of more than 21,000 pet owners, Arizona State University tried to figure out what a dream lifestyle would look like for optimal dog health.
Researchers were shocked by the “adverse” impact of children, while also finding that dogs from higher-income households were more likely to get sick.
“We found that time with children had a detrimental effect on dogs’ health,” says MSc student Layla Brassington, who co-led the study.
Dogs that spent more time with children were found to be less healthy overall (file image)
“The more kids or time owners spend with their kids probably leads to less time with their furry kids.”
Doctoral student Brianah McCoy added, “You can think of it as a resource allocation problem, rather than kids being bad for dogs.”
As part of the study, pet owners were first asked 33 questions to identify the key factors that influence a dog’s health, including social time, owner’s age, household income and neighborhood stability.
Scientists then compared this list to the number of reported illnesses in each of the 21,410 dogs, also taking into account their age and weight.
Socialization turned out to have the greatest effect of all, with an influence five times greater than financial stability.
While dogs living with more children appeared to be less healthy, those living with many other animals were significantly healthier.
Experts also found that less stability in a home negatively impacts a dog’s well-being.
“This shows that, as with many social animals, including humans, having more social companions can be very important for the dog’s health,” said Ms McCoy.
“Here we see how dogs can help us better understand how the environment around us affects health, and the many ways dogs mirror the human experience. Just like humans, dogs in less resourced environments are more likely to have health problems.”
Social time found to have the greatest impact on a four-legged friend’s health (file image)
Despite this, researchers were surprised by some of the results of their study, including the idea that dogs from higher income backgrounds had more illnesses.
While this might suggest they are less healthy, scientists argue it could also be a result of more frequent seeking of expensive veterinary care.
Excessive costs may deter some lower-income workers from going to the vet in the first place, perhaps leading to fewer diagnoses.
Still, scientists acknowledge that there may be a flaw in their findings, as illness reports were based solely on owner information and not medical records.
“We now want to understand how these external factors under the skin affect the health of the dog – how does the environment change their bodies and cells?” Dr. Noah Snyder-Mackler said.
“In future research, we will look at electronic veterinary medical records, molecular and immunological measures, and at-home physical testing to generate more accurate measures of health and frailty in the companion dog.”
Ms McCoy added: ‘But the take home message is, having a good network, having a good social connection is good for the dogs that live with us.
‘But the structure and equality in our society also have a detrimental effect on our companion animals. And they’re not the ones thinking about their next paycheck or their health care.’