Men with small dogs seen as more attractive to women, study claims

Researchers from the University of Jaen, in Spain, collected data from almost 300 female college students and discovered women feel more at ease with men who have small dogs than those without pets

While many parents taught their children not to speak to strangers online, many ignored this advice in their adulthood and set up online dating accounts. It has become well-known that including an adorable dog on your dating profile can increase how many singletons swipe you right to start a conversation with you – but a new study has discovered the size of the animal makes an impact too.

Researchers from the University of Jaen, in Spain, have revealed that women are more attracted to men with small dogs as this makes them seem less “intimidating and threatening”. In their study, the team collected data from almost 300 female college students who were all shown pictures of a man or woman either walking alone or with a dog.

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Half of them were shown pictures in a “positive context” taken in well lit public spaces, whereas the others were shown images in a “negative context” taken in a dimly lit street at night.

A researcher said: “We selected two unpopular, medium-and small-sized adult dogs (Portuguese podengo-like mixed-breed dog and wire-haired dachshund, respectively) to examine whether the positive dog effect was due to dog presence itself or dog specificity.”

In response to the images, the women were asked to rate how intimidating and threatening they thought the people included in the image were, with the results showing the women felt more at ease with the people walking dogs – no matter whether it was a well or badly lit image.

“The current study has shown that the small-sized dog prompts more positive emotional reactivity and higher levels of safety than the medium-sized dog in most emotional contexts, pointing out that emotional and safety benefits from dog presence might also be related to size,” a researcher added.

It comes after a woman shared a major “red flag” hopeful romantics should look out for when scrolling through dating apps.

Speaking to Reddit, the woman explained how she has caught men trying to ‘dogfish’ her into a date by including a picture of themselves posed alongside someone else’s dog on their profile.

She said: “I keep seeing profiles of guys in their late 20s to early 30s, saying ‘Don’t date me unless you love dogs’, ‘This is my best friend in the whole world’ or ‘I’ll delete this app when my dog likes you’.

“Then I get to talking, and say what’s your dog’s name? And they admit that they don’t have a dog. That’s their sister’s dog, ex girlfriend’s dog, or friend’s dog. They don’t even know the animal’s name.

“They start listing all the reasons they don’t have a pet – allergies, too much responsibility, don’t like smells, or don’t actually like animals that much.”

Fearing it’s a bad sign, the woman is urging singles to ‘get out while they can’ to save themselves from future lies.

She added: “I’m a dog owner. It would be a major green flag when my prospective date also has a pet that he takes care of and loves.

“I think a lot of women with pets would want to match with someone with the same pet as themselves – be it a lizard, snake, fish, dog, cat or bunny.”

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