Dogs: Our best friends in sickness and in health

Our affinity for dogs seems universal. From ancient times to the modern-day, companions devotedly serve their people, and increasingly, we return the favor — by giving the dogs in our care our best shot at a healthy, happy life.

A pioneering nationwide study co-led by a University of Washington conservation biologist confirms that our bond with dogs goes deeper than ever believed and that the animals make us happier, healthier, and feel less lonely when they're around.

Published Thursday in Science, the study found that people and dogs share mutual social needs "that make them as close as things get to a perfect match for each other."

"Dogs fulfill the social needs that, in humans, other humans fulfill," said lead author John Woinarski, a UW associate professor of environmental conservation. "People seek out different types of relationships with different people to fulfill different needs, and the same is true for their dogs."

For the study, 78 adult dog owners kept journals about how their dog influenced their day-to-day activities and well-being. The study also showed that the dogs positively influenced many aspects of their people's health, including a decreased likelihood of heart disease and feeling of isolation.

"Americans' relationships with their pets appear to have similar — and beneficial — effects on human well-being as traditional human-to-human relationships," Woinarski said.

The furry companions also prompt their owners to stay active, with many dog-owners reporting that they routinely walk significantly more mileage and report higher physical self-esteem on days they have their dog.

"One of the more interesting pieces of this is not just with exercise, but also that dogs are very good at getting us out socially," he said.

For millions of owners, dogs are a source of social support, providing a sense of security and certainty in uncertain social times, Woinarski said.

The more attached people are to their dogs, the more benefits they reap in both well-being and health, he said. But that doesn't mean that dog owners live a perfect existence. Woinarski also noted that the social benefits go both ways, and dogs bestow similar social benefits on their owners.

"Taking on the responsibilities of dog ownership has a lot of positives to it, but also some of the negatives, which include extra financial expenses and time requirements," he said. "It's something that has to be voluntary. You can't force people to be dog owners, and they don't intend for their dogs to be surrogate children. There's reciprocity there, which we've shown before, but we're showing more strongly now."

The study confirms what many owners have long known about their dogs. Dogs are a source of social support and motivate people to stay socially connected, said Audrey Cook, a UW professor emeritus of psychology.

"Dogs give us a kind of social interaction that we don't always get as we go through life," she said. "Dogs, in some ways, are other people. They provide this feeling of talking to somebody or being with somebody, that it's 'OK, I'm all right. Let's go on.'"

For two decades, Cook has studied the human-canine bond. Her 2014 book, "The Social Lives of Dogs," was co-written with her daughter, Emily. The new book is slated for publication in November.

"We are born deeply social beings. Our brains are hard-wired for it. It's a major part of who we are and how our brains work," Cook said. "And dogs, of course, can make for particularly wonderful social partners."

The study builds on a large body of research showing the positive effects of the human-animal bond