Looking to up your dating game? Then grab your dog.
New research led by University of Nevada Las Vegas anthropologist Peter Gray in conjunction with PetSmart shows that dogs can help increase your sex appeal. The study recruited 1,201 single pet owners through online dating site Match.com, with 62 percent being women and 40 percent men. Seventy-two percent owned a dog and 42 percent are cat owners.
The team found that having a dog (okay, a cat, too) can play a role in the dating game. Here is what they discovered:
- 35 percent of women and 26 percent of men were more attracted to someone that owned a pet
- 22 percent of men and 6 percent of women said they used their pet to attract the opposite sex
- 25 percent of men and almost half of women judged someone by how their pet acted towards their date
- 76 percent of women and 60 percent men evaluated their dates based on if their pets liked the person
- Almost half of men and 64 percent of women were more attracted to someone if they owned a rescued pet.
- Three-quarters of women and 54 percent of men said they would not date someone if they did not like pets.
Related: From ‘Pet Project’ to Real Business: The Story Behind Dogs of Instagram
The findings could be attributed to evolution. Women tend to be more focused on accumulating resources to care for their children, whereas men concentrate on mating. This explains why women were more perceptive to how men treated their own pets, while males were more likely to use their pet to attract females.
Baby Boomers vs. Millennials
There was a difference in owners and their relationship with their pets based on age. According to the study, millennial men were more likely to use their pets as a way to entice someone. This generation was also more attracted to people that owned pets, more prone to evaluate the date based on how their pet reacted to the person and more likely to find it a turn-on if people post pictures of their pet on their dating profile.
The new research supports an earlier study from 2008 that had a handsome young Frenchman approach 240 random women and ask for their phone number. Half of the time, the man had a cute dog and the other half of the time.
Related: 10 Reasons to Heart a Dog Lover
Image via Flickr/Wilfredo Rodríguez
H/T Psychology Today
