Sept. 26, 2007 — It may have been shocking to some when New York billionaire Leona Helmsley recently left a fortune to her Maltese dog, but the act is less surprising in light of new findings about the importance of the human/dog bond.
Relationships between people and their pets can be so strong, in fact, that in some cases they work better than partnerships between two people.
The new study — one of the first to apply methods used to analyze human relationships to human/dog pairs — also reveals clues as to what makes the best pooch-to-person match.
One surprising find is that a dog's personality helps shape the relationship more than the person's does.
Lead author Lisa Cavanaugh explained to Discovery News that "unlike human relationships, the partner's personality — in our case the canine personality — contributes measurably to relationship satisfaction" while the person's character seems to take a backseat.
Cavanaugh, a researcher at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and her colleagues recruited dog owners from northeastern, southeastern and western parts of the United States to complete detailed questionnaires about themselves, their dogs, and their relationships with their dogs. The researchers then contacted recommended friends of participants to obtain their assessments.
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The findings have been accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Research.
Two dog qualities usually predicted a successful match.
"A canine's openness to new experience and agreeableness are the strongest predictors of relationship satisfaction," explained Cavanaugh, who was surprised by that finding, since other studies suggest openness has little effect on satisfaction in close relationships.
She and her team suspect that "dogs' generally trusting, non-judgmental, empathetic and curious nature enables them to blend into their owners' family and home, and bring comfort and enjoyment into their lives."
