A new study suggests that if you are dog lover, it maybe in your genes and dog ownership is related to your DNA. Swedish researchers examined a database of 35,035 identical and fraternal twins born between 1926 and 1996, gathered records about their dog ownership from government and kennel club registries.
Identical twins are those who share 100% percent of their genes and are genetically more like each other than fraternal twins, who share only 50% of their genes. Twins share the same environment, so if a trait is genetic, identical twins will look more like each other in that trait than fraternal twins do.
Researchers claimed that genetics are responsible for 57% of Dog ownership in women and 51% in Men
According study in ‘scientific reports’, found that if one identical female twin owned a dog, there was 40% likelihood that her twin would, too compared with a 25% likelihood with fraternal females. When an identical male twin owned a dog, there was 29% likelihood that his twin did, compared with only an 18% likelihood for fraternal males.
Dog ownership, in other words, has a large genetic component. The scientists calculate that genetics responsible for 57% of dog ownership in women and 51% in men.
“Some people are dog people, some are not”, said the lead author, Tove Fall, a professor of epidomiology at Uppasala University. “And four findings suggest that inherited factors may explain the difference.”
Patrick Magnusson, senior author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology at Karolinska Insitutet, explained that the study could not identify exactly which genes may determine whether a person is likely to own a dog.
However, the study does “at least demonstrate that genetics and environment play about equal roles in determining dog ownership”, Magnusson said.
“The next obvious step is to try to identify which genetic variants affect this choice and how they relate to personality traits and other factors such as allergy,” the professor added.
According to a study published in December by exeter and Canterbury University, dogs may not be as intelligent as people think. This claim prompted fury across Twitter, with many users defending the intelligence or their canine companions.
There was another research report published by the Swedish researchers few years ago that suggest dog owners may live longer.
It’s time to thank your dog and take it for a walk!
References
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44083-9
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/well/family/dog-person-it-may-be-in-your-genes.html
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