Health Benefits of Dog Ownership – Part 1
Being dog owners and handlers confers many benefits, both physical and psychological. Service dogs, of course, play a critical role in the lives of their handlers, providing support and assistance that is unambiguously vital. But the rest of us, for whom our dogs are chiefly pets and companions, also benefit from our relationships with our pooches.
Those benefits come in two major forms: physical and psychological. This blog will cover the physical (and medical) benefits that come from having a dog in the household. The next blog in the series will explore the psychological advantages that pet companionship brings.
The Top Line: Longer Lifespan
The literature on the advantages of dog ownership covers a great deal of ground, speculating on many dimensions of human well-being. At the highest level, the medical benefits can be measured by what scientists call all-cause mortality: the total number of deaths from any cause within a specific population over a defined period. Essentially, it's the death rate from all possible causes. A review of studies conducted between 1950 and 2019 showed that having a dog was associated with a 24 percent reduction in all-cause mortality as compared with non-ownership.*
Decreased Cardiovascular Risk
In analyses that evaluated cardiovascular mortality, dog ownership conferred a 31 percent risk reduction from death stemming from cardiovascular causes.* The researchers suggested that a significant portion of this risk reduction might result from dog ownership by people who had already suffered from acute coronary syndrome.
The researchers speculated that these health improvements could come from several possible sources:
Exercise associated with dog-walking, which is believed to reduce dyslipidemia (high “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides and low “good” cholesterol). See below for more discussion of this notion.
Reduced incidence of diabetes, also associated with dog-walking exercise
Reduced stress, indicated by a lowered resting heart rate and blunted blood pressure responses to stress, which can result simply from physical contact with a dog.
The Exercise Effect
The health advantages of exercise are well-documented. From that basis, many observers have suggested that at least some of the health benefits from dog ownership must come from the exercise associated with walking the dog. This makes sense, of course, but the truth appears to be more nuanced.
One detailed study suggested that the exercise-related benefits of owning (and walking) a dog vary significantly across sociodemographic groups. On the one hand, the researchers found that pet owners were less likely than non-pet owners to be obese, have a diagnosis of congestive heart failure or report having arthritis.** On the other hand, these effects were not directly explained by any increase in pet-associated health behaviors (for example, walking the dog). The study’s author suggested that pet owners are more likely than others to engage in more frequent exercise (aerobics, hiking and swimming, for instance). It may well be that active people choose dogs that benefit from lively walks, such that owners influence pet exercise more than the other way around.
Allergies and Dog Ownership
Having a dog in the house can affect the degree to which owners suffer from a variety of allergies. The allergy effects of dog proximity can be particularly pronounced during the first year or so of an infant’s life.
One study found that having a dog or cat in the home during the first year of life, as well as later in childhood, can significantly reduce the risk of sensitization to common airborne allergens later on (at age 13, in this particular analysis).*** The study authors said that this early exposure may influence the immune system during a crucial period they called the “window of opportunity.” Moreover, they said, having dogs (or cats) in the home may help desensitize children to bacteria found in the indoor environment.***
Augmenting the Microbiome
The authors of another research study pointed to an individual’s microbiome (the microorganisms in a particular environment, including the body or a part of the body) as a key element in dog-related health effects. They suggested that an individual’s microbiome might be augmented at an early age by having contact with pets, growing up on a farm, having siblings and attending communal daycare facilities. A strengthened microbiome could, in turn, reduce the likelihood of developing such allergic conditions as skin rashes and wheezing.****
The researchers also found that living with dogs was associated with a 90 percent reduction in the probability of developing food allergies. The power of dog contact increased with the number of dogs in the household and in situations where the dog frequented the infant’s bedroom. Their data showed that the effects of dog ownership on food sensitivity began to emerge as early as three months.****
We know that our dogs can entertain us, protect us and serve us in a variety of ways. And more good news: the research noted above shows that dogs also contribute directly and indirectly to our physical well-being. But what about our emotional state? In the next blog, we will explore the effect that contact with our canine companions can have on our emotional and psychological health.
*Kramer, C.K., et. al., “Dog Ownership and Survival: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. 2019;12:e005554. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.119.005554. Dog Ownership and Survival
**Utz, R.L., “Walking the Dog: The Effect of Pet Ownership on Human Health and Health Behaviors,” Social Indicators Research, (2014) 116.2 (2014): 327-339. Walking the Dog: The Effect of Pet Ownership on Human Health and Health Behaviors | Social Indicators Research
***Al‐Tamprouri, Chaifa, et al. "Cat and dog ownership during/after the first year of life and risk for sensitization and reported allergy symptoms at age 13." Immunity, inflammation and disease 7.4 (2019): 250-257. Cat and dog ownership during/after the first year of life and risk for sensitization and reported allergy symptoms at age 13 - Al‐Tamprouri - 2019 - Immunity, Inflammation and Disease - Wiley Online Library
****Marrs, T., et al., “Dog ownership at three months of age is associated with protection against food allergy,” Allergy, 2019, 74(11), 2212-2219. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.13868