Why you should (not) get a dog: the pros and cons of dog ownership
Are dogs really the key to better health and a happier life?
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Are dogs really the key to better health and a happier life? In this new study, dog owners were invited to describe the biggest benefits and challenges of dog ownership. The commitments and responsibilities of having a dog were found to be both a joy and a burden, highlighting the importance of making a conscious adoption choice.
view moreCredit: Photo: Vanda Molnár
Are dogs really the key to better health and a happier life? In this new study, dog owners were invited to describe the biggest benefits and challenges of dog ownership. The commitments and responsibilities of having a dog were found to be both a joy and a burden, highlighting the importance of making a conscious adoption choice.
The pet dog population has been growing worldwide. Often benefiting from good press in mainstream media, dog ownership is generally assumed to improve human lives, providing companionship and boosting well-being. While bringing a dog into the family does come with many benefits for a lot of people, the costs of dog ownership should not be overlooked. In fact, previous studies conducted on larger, representative samples of the population could not conclude on a generalisable “pet effect”:
pet owners are not always happier and healthier than non-pet owners.
Caring for a dog can be costly in time and money, but also emotionally. For instance, having a dog with behavioural problems or a long-term medical condition may elicit worry, sadness, and guilt. In the long run, these negative feelings might turn into chronic stress or depression.
The more people know about dogs, the more prepared they are for the reality of having one at home. Informing about the positive, but also the negative facets of dog ownership, may help prospective owners to engage in the adoption process more consciously. Yet, comprehensive overviews of the many costs and benefits of sharing life with a dog remain scarce. Which facets of dog ownership are considered the most costly, and which the most beneficial? How do dog owners perceive and describe the positive and negative aspects of their experience?
To find out, researchers at the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) first asked dog owners to rate a list of 33 neutrally-phrased statements related to pet dogs (such as “Dogs need to be trained and educated”, “Dogs can bring mess and dirt into the house”, “Dogs can keep children company”) on a scale from -3 (big disadvantage) to +3 (big advantage). Participants in the study were then invited to describe in their own words what were, for them, the biggest cost and the biggest benefit of having a dog.
The belief that dogs brighten people’s lives was found to be the most positively rated item from the list (2.78 on average), while the short lifespan of dogs was rated the most negatively (-1.67 on average). Adding up all ratings together, the authors noted that positive statements were, on average, rated much higher (2.06) than negative statements (-0.66), tipping the cost/benefit scales in favour of the positive side of the dog ownership experience.
“We were also interested to see if all of these facets of dog ownership could group together into bigger components” said Laura Gillet, PhD student at the Department of Ethology and lead author of the study. “In the end, we found three of them. The first one encompassed the emotional, physical, and social benefits of having a dog. The second one was more on the negative side, referring to the negative emotions and practical challenges arising because of the dog. The third and last component comprised aspects related to the commitment and responsibilities coming with dog ownership in the long term, including, for instance, the time that has to be dedicated to the dog’s daily care and training, as well as the influence of the dog on its owner’s routine and quality of sleep.” This last component divided dog owners the most: while it was positive for some, others saw it as a more neutral, or even as a negative aspect of dog ownership.
“We also analysed open-ended responses because they offer an even better understanding of the costs and benefits” explains Eniko Kubinyi, head of the Department of Ethology at ELTE and principal investigator of the MTA-ELTE ‘Momentum’ Companion Animal Research Group.
“More than sixty percent of dog owners spontaneously mentioned that the biggest benefit of pet dogs was the meaningful and valued relationship they developed with them.
Dogs were often described as honest, devoted and supportive social partners, showing unconditional, selfless love to their human family.” Daily life benefits were the second most frequently cited theme (31%), with owners mentioning that having a dog improved their lifestyle by encouraging physical exercise and outdoors activities, and brought stability and structure in their life. For 15% of respondents, another major advantage of sharing life with a dog was the opportunity to bond with a member of another species, whose intrinsic qualities were deemed numerous.
As for the biggest cost, dog owners were almost unanimous: caring for a dog costs money. Veterinary costs, feeding and other expenses were cited by 95% of the respondents. In comparison, emotional and practical costs were rarely mentioned, only by 4-5% of owners.
In summary, the results of this study show that the dog ownership experience is multifaceted and cannot be described in terms of universal costs and benefits that would apply to all owners. Most importantly, the researchers found that, depending on the owner, the commitment and responsibilities coming with dog ownership can be perceived just as much as beneficial as they can be perceived as an emotional and practical burden. Although a ratio in favour of the positive side of dog ownership was to be expected, especially in a sample of dog enthusiasts, it is also possible that some owners struggled with their dogs without being able to talk about it for fear of being judged and labelled as a “bad owner”. Therefore, the authors’ findings highlight the importance of publicly addressing not only the positive effects of pet dogs, but also the many challenges coming with dog ownership, to reduce the gap between expectations and reality and improve the lives of both humans and dogs.
Are dogs really the key to better health and a happier life? In this new study, dog owners were invited to describe the biggest benefits and challenges of dog ownership. The commitments and responsibilities of having a dog were found to be both a joy and a burden, highlighting the importance of making a conscious adoption choice.
For more: https://biologia.elte.hu/en
Credit
Photo: Enikő Kubinyi
Are dogs really the key to better health and a happier life? In this new study, dog owners were invited to describe the biggest benefits and challenges of dog ownership. The commitments and responsibilities of having a dog were found to be both a joy and a burden, highlighting the importance of making a conscious adoption choice.
For more: https://biologia.elte.hu/en
Credit
Photo: Enikő Kubinyi / ELTE Eötvös Loránd University
Original article: Gillet, L., Turcsán, B., Kubinyi, E. (2025). Perceived costs and benefits of companion dog keeping based on a convenience sample of dog owners. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-85254-1
Funding: The study was supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences via a grant to the MTA-ELTE ‘Lendület/Momentum’ Companion Animal Research Group (Grant No. PH1404/21). KE was also supported by the National Brain Programme 3.0 (NAP2022-I-3/2022), and LG by the DKOP-23 Doctoral Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund. PR work was funded by MEC_N 149124.
Journal
Scientific Reports
Article Title
Perceived costs and benefits of companion dog keeping based on a convenience sample of dog owners.
Article Publication Date
21-Jan-2025
Study of deadly dog cancer reveals new clues for improved treatment
University of Florida
Researchers at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and the UF Health Cancer Center have identified a crucial link between a gene mutation and immune system signaling in canine hemangiosarcoma, a discovery that could lead to better treatments for both dogs and humans with similar cancers.
The research focuses on hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that forms malignant blood vessels in dogs. This life-threatening condition is difficult to diagnose early, as tumors can grow silently before rupturing without warning, leading to emergencies. The prognosis is poor, with only 10% of diagnosed dogs surviving beyond one year, and none living past two years.
While hemangiosarcoma can affect any breed at any age, older golden retrievers are especially susceptible. The cancer’s high incidence in dogs — estimated at more than 50,000 cases annually in veterinary clinics — provides researchers with valuable data that could benefit human patients with angiosarcoma, a rare but similar cancer that affects about 1,000 Americans each year.
“The best four-legged friends of humans help us do high-quality cancer research,” said Jon Kim, D.V.M., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the college and the study’s lead researcher. “We learn a lot about human cancer biology from studying cancer in dogs.”
The research team’s findings, detailed last year in two pioneering publications, most recently Cancer Gene Therapy, reveal an important discovery about how this cancer grows and spreads. The team found that hemangiosarcoma doesn’t just create its own blood vessels — it hijacks healthy cells nearby, forcing them to help build the blood vessels that feed the tumor.
Even more significantly, the researchers discovered that a specific genetic mutation in the PIK3CA gene causes cancer cells to send out signals that confuse the body’s immune system.
While scientists have known about PIK3CA mutations in human cancers for years, they haven’t fully understood how these mutations affect the way cancer grows and responds to treatment. The study findings help fill in these knowledge gaps, Kim said.
“This new research provides us with critical insights that could lead to novel therapies for both canine hemangiosarcoma patients with this mutation and human patients with angiosarcoma,” he said.
The rarity of human angiosarcoma has hampered research efforts, making it difficult to gather enough data for meaningful clinical trials and to understand the cancer’s fundamental biology. However, the much higher incidence of hemangiosarcoma in dogs offers researchers a robust natural model for study, the researchers said.
“We see a lot of dogs with hemangiosarcoma in veterinary clinics,” Kim said. “We hope our work will be beneficial, not only for sick dogs, but also for human patients with this terrible disease.”
In laboratory experiments, the research team discovered that hemangiosarcoma cells have a unique ability to stimulate blood cell production. This process could influence the generation of ‘cancer-friendly’ immune cells, effectively confusing the body's immune system and enabling cancer growth. The team's recent work shows this process can be driven by the mutant PIK3CA gene, suggesting new therapeutic possibilities targeting this mutation and its effects on immune disruption.
“Our hope is that this innovative approach will help us better understand the clinical and translational significance of our findings from dogs for rare human cancers,” Kim said.
Journal
Cancer Gene Therapy
Article Title
PIK3CA mutation fortifies molecular determinants for immune signaling in vascular cancers
Article Publication Date
21-Jan-2024
