Study Finds That Most Men Feel Emotionally Closer to Dogs Than Humans

It is no secret that dogs can help us emotionally. Just looking at a dog or snuggling up with our furry friends is enough to bring a smile to our faces even on a bad day. It’s likely that they even benefit us more than other humans do.

A new study actually proves that most men feel “emotionally closer” to dogs than other people. So, if you consider your dog to be the most important living thing in your life, then you are certainly not alone.

Men often pretend like important things, such as health and personal information, aren’t that important. So, it is likely that they also act the same way toward their attachment to their dog. Research done by Dr. Chris Blazina suggests that men feel more stable in their relationships with their dogs than with any of the humans in their lives.

Not only did this study show the relationship between a man and his dog, but it also looked at how having a dog can benefit a man’s life. To some of us, the benefits of a dog might seem obvious. However, some men might not like to admit these strong connections.

The men that were surveyed were requested to compare the relationship they had with their dog to their relationship to the closest person in their life. The results proved that men preferred their dogs without a doubt. Can we really blame them though?

62% of the men surveyed stated that their relationship with their dog was almost always secure. However, only 10% of them said that their relationship with the closest human in their lives was also a secure one. Therefore, dogs benefit most men emotionally far more than any humans do.

Also, Dr. Blazina noted that as men age, dogs can also start to play a more important role in their life. Middle aged men appeared to rely more heavily on their dogs for emotional support than younger men.

Dr. Blazina conducted this research after he lost his own dog, Kelsey. He suffered so much grief after she passed away. However, the grief caused him to become curious about the true emotional connection between a man and his dog.

“When I started grieving the loss of my old friend, part of that process was to understand why Kelsey was so important in my life,” Dr. Blazina said.

Through his research, he discovered that the grief humans feel for the loss of an animal is fairly similar to grief involving people. Sometimes it can even be a stronger grief. Humans build an attachment with dogs over time. So, even after their dogs have passed away, they still try to preserve that bond.

Of course, dogs are a huge part of our lives. However, we often we take the moments we spend with them for granted. Not only has Dr. Blazina’s study showed us the emotional bond between a human and their dog, but it also proves that we need to enjoy the moments we have with our dogs while they last.