Living with a dog: the pros and cons
A dog can enrich a person's everyday life enormously. But what exactly do dog owners appreciate about their four-legged friends - and what do they see as a burden?
Life without a dog is possible, but pointless - many dog people would probably agree with this wisdom. At the same time, a four-legged friend is also a great responsibility. In order to determine the possible advantages and disadvantages more precisely, researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest recruited almost 250 dog owners in Hungary for a survey via an online platform. They presented them with a list of 33 statements, for example "Dogs can encourage more exercise" and "Dogs need training and education". The test subjects were asked to rate these statements on a scale from -3 (major disadvantage) to +3 (major advantage). They were then asked to describe the most important advantages and disadvantages in their own words.
As psychologist Laura Gillet and her colleagues report in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports", the responses could be statistically summarised into three groups. The first includes the emotional, physical and social benefits of dogs for their humans, including feelings of joy, companionship, security and love that the animal arouses. The second group includes practical inconveniences such as cost, dirt, noise, annoyance and conflict. And the third is mainly about the effort involved with the dog: training and care, the impact on daily routines and sleep. Opinions differed greatly on this third area: some saw the obligations more positively, others neutrally or more negatively.
The biggest disadvantage of dogs was their comparatively short lifespan - which of course indirectly speaks in their favour. Their biggest advantage: that they enrich life. The extent to which they do this is shown by the evaluation of the answers to the subsequent open questions: more than 60 per cent of respondents valued the close mutual relationship with their pet above all. In second place, at around 30 per cent, was everyday life with a dog, for example that it gives structure to life. Between 15 and 20 per cent mentioned positive feelings, learning experiences and a sense of purpose, as well as the special relationship with a non-human living being. Almost everyone agreed on the biggest disadvantages: the costs, especially for the vet.
The pendulum nevertheless swings clearly in favour of the advantages. Most dog owners derive more advantages than disadvantages from their dog, the researchers concluded. However, they believe it is possible that not all respondents answered honestly, perhaps because they did not want to admit their struggles or were afraid of being judged by others. This is precisely why it is important to be open about the challenges that a dog poses in everyday life and thus prevent any false expectations.
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