Your Pet Could Help You Find True Love

In Walt Disney's 101 Dalmatians, Roger and Anita fell in-love with a little help from their pets Pongo and Perdita.

Yahoo Health reports there really is a reason behind why men pick up women in dog parks.

According to a study conducted by researchers from Indiana University, Rutgers University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, having a pet does make a person more attractive to the opposite sex.

For the study, the researchers looked at the data from a 2014 Match.com survey with 1,200 people mentioning their pets on their dating profiles. According to their findings, 75% of women admitted they wouldn't date someone who didn't like pets and men are more likely to use their pets to attract women.

Moreover, men and women are more likely to be attracted to a person with a pet dog. In fact, most men and women think their relationship would work with a dog person more than those with pet cats.

As to why would people even consider having a pet in finding a mate, study's lead author Peter Gray, PhD explains it makes people think about their future family.

"The role of pets, dogs, and cats is changing in America," Gray told Yahoo Health. "We're putting more money into pet food, pet services, and training, and pets are often viewed as a family member."

For women, seeing men with a well-kept dog indicates a good father image. "That makes them more valuable in dating assessments," he said, adding it also shows how well a man could treat other people in general.

But why are they more attracted to dog people than cat people? Gray isn't sure how to explain that but he does have this theory: dogs require more maintenance than cats.

"That makes them more socially diagnostic," he explained. "I can learn more from watching a person around dogs than cats."

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