Researches recently discovered that being a dog lover can be dictated in your genes. This goes to show, that yes, there’s an actual reason as to why some people prefer dogs over cats or any other pets. And it interposes that such trait is actually passed from one ancestor to the next until it reached the dog-loving person that is you!
Older studies suggest that one’s affinity to dogs can be traced from being exposed to dogs at a young age. But this seems tricky for it can’t seem to explain those who love dogs but didn’t grow up having one.
To study further, researchers examined the data of 85,000 twins in Sweden. The Swedish Twin Registry is the world’s largest twin registry and it gave solid genetic data when it comes to dog ownership during adulthood.
The data on twin registry was paired with 15 years of data involving dog ownership. This was possible for Sweden is pretty advance when it comes to keeping dogs. In Sweden, all dog owners are required to register their dogs in the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Dog owners are also required to report the death of their dogs, and even whenever there has been name changes.
Of the 85,000 twins, 8,000 owned a dog. Through the use of a scientific computer model, patterns were detected among such twins. It duly showed that genetics is more accurate when it comes to predicting dog ownership during adulthood. The research showed that genes have a say of 51% in men and 57% in women, when it comes to being dog-loving.
The study has yet to pin point the exact gene that dictates if a person is going to be dog-loving, but what it clearly offers is proof that your genes play an equally important role with your environment when it comes to predicting if you will end up being a dog-lover and having dog of your own during adulthood.