New Study Shows Our Dogs Are More than Just Pets

A new study by the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), published Tuesday in Scientific Reports, examined the role of dogs in the human social network. The research found that the bond between humans and their dogs most closely resembles a mix of parent-child and best friend relationships.

Researchers compared the human-dog bond to four types of human relationships along 13 characteristics. They found that the relationship with dogs combines the nurturing love one feels for a child with the low-conflict dynamic typical of friendships, while still featuring a clear power imbalance meaning that owners hold dominant control.

The study also revealed that

the level of support people receive in human relationships positively correlates with the support they feel from their dogs—indicating that dogs are not substitutes, but complements to human connections.

Over 700 dog owners assessed their relationships with their dogs and with four types of human partners (child, romantic partner, closest relative, and best friend) based on the 13 criteria. The results showed that people were most satisfied with their relationship with their dog. They rated their dogs as their best companions and felt most loved by them. Dogs scored similarly to children in terms of care and reliability, but like best friends, were associated with low conflict. However, the power imbalance in dog-owner relationships was significantly higher than in any human bond.

Enikő Kubinyi, head of the ELTE Department of Ethology and the MTA-ELTE “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group, noted that owners exert near-total control over their dogs: they make all decisions and set the rules. This control, combined with the dog’s vulnerability, may explain why owners rate these relationships so highly.

Kubinyi emphasized that

dogs play a unique role in our social lives: they offer emotional closeness like children, low conflict like friends, and predictability derived from the structured, human-led relationship.

“This may be why we can form such deep and fulfilling bonds with them,” she said.

The study also examined the link between how people rate their human and canine relationships. Researcher Dorottya Ujfalussy explained that while they initially hypothesized that those receiving less support from people might rely more on their dogs, the results did not confirm this. Participants who felt more supported by humans also reported receiving more support from their dogs.

However, the researchers noted that the participants were self-selected volunteers who likely have more satisfying relationships than the general population. Therefore, the study may not reflect more vulnerable social groups, who might depend more heavily on dogs for emotional support.

Lead author Borbála Turcsán added that

dogs provide different kinds of emotional and social support depending on their owner’s needs: some seek companionship and fun, others reliability and emotional stability, and some simply want to care for someone.

Instead of fitting the dog-owner relationship into pre-existing categories like “family member” or “pet,” the researchers used a new, multidimensional approach. This framework offers a more accurate picture of how dogs fit into the human social network and helps explain why different people seek different types of support from their dogs, and why these bonds can be so deep and significant.

Via MTI; Featured picture: Pexels