If you're a dog owner, you know how much you love your dog. And as it turns out, that love could potentially help you find love. That's what new data from Rover suggests.
In a survey of dating app users, 60% of pet lovers said they were more inclined to swipe right on someone if the profile featured a dog. For 64% of people, starting a conversation with a match was easier if they had a dog on their profile. Eighty-three percent felt having a photo of a dog positively impacted the number of matches they got.
So what is it about dogs that makes us feel this way?
"If we're in the presence of a dog that is flourishing, meaning a dog that is enjoying that interaction, is enjoying their own experience of being in that particular circumstance or setting, then the information that's provided by that image informs our kind of human, interpersonal neuro-biology," said Phil Tedeschi, founder of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver.
That information can activate the oxytocin system in our body, according to Tedeschi. That can make us feel more talkative, less stressed and overall friendlier. It's just like how people are more likely to approach you in a park so they can pet your dog and talk to you about them.
