Dog People

Despite the great strides that have been made to create an atmosphere in New York in which people of all ethnicities feel welcome, different social groups may not readily mix. I know from personal experience, having spent the past five years of my life taking an hour out of each day to walk my dogs, that a great way to bring strangers together and facilitate communication is to introduce an animal to the situation.

Multiple scientific studies have been conducted to determine whether the presence of a dog can allow for increased social interaction and each one I have read has confirmed my hypothesis. One study conducted by Lisa J. Wood, Billie Giles-Corti, Max K. Bulsara, and Darcy A. Bosch examined the association between pet ownership and the idea of community and social capital. Social capital is defined as the communications and networks that inspire citizens to trust one another. Both qualitative and quantitative data derived from this study showed that dog owners and individuals without pets benefit socially from the dogs walking around their neighborhoods (Wood, Giles-Corti, Balsara, Bosch).

Another study conducted by June McNicholas and Glyn M. Collis determined the robustness of the effect dogs have as catalysts for social interface. The first portion of the study sought to disprove the idea that dogs or their handlers are the ones initiating the interactions with others. A handler walked a dog trained to ignore people and the handler also walked around without the dog. Many more people interacted with the handler when the dog was present, especially strangers, thus proving that the presence of the dog increases social interaction but not due to the fact that the dog solicits attention. The second part of the study was conducted to determine if the appearance of the dog or handler affected the affect dogs have on social interaction. A handler walked twice without a dog, twice with a pleasant looking dog, and twice with an unattractive dog. During each set of trials the handler appeared neat in one and scruffy in the other. The biggest difference in results was between when the handler walked with a dog and when the handler walked without a dog. The appearance of the handler and dog did not have much bearing on the aforementioned catalysis effect. These studies confirm that the social catalysis affect dogs have is due simply to their presence. Many reasons as to why this is have been postulated. The social catalysis effect may be due to the fact that dogs act as a safe topic of conversation, providing an easy ice-breaker. Another hypothesis is that dogs increase a person’s perceived friendliness. Whatever the reason, dogs seem to increase their handler’s ability to interact with others (McNicholas, Collis).

Wanting to test this theory personally, I decided to take my dogs to central park. I noted the number and kinds of interactions I had prompted by people without pets that were attracted to my dogs. In addition, I interviewed the various dog walkers I came across, asking them if they felt that their dogs benefited them socially, if they felt more inclined to speak to people different from them, especially people in different ethnic groups, if they had a dog, and if they were approached more frequently by strangers when walking their dogs.

Before I had even reached central park, individuals stopped next to me at red lights grinned at me and waved at my dogs. Upon walking from the parking garage to the park, I was stopped twice by individuals walking without dogs. One man commented on how cute my Shih tzu is, whipping out his phone to show me pictures of his son playing with his Lhasa apso. A woman on the same block stopped to ask if she could pet my dogs. When I got to the park itself, I noticed many people grinning at me and waving to my dogs. Clearly my dogs act as social catalysts but I wanted to determine if other dog walkers noticed this effect as well.

Upon asking my list of questions to several dog walkers, I received multiple responses consistent with my theory. Every person I asked told me that their dogs definitely benefited them socially. One man named Eric, a manager of a dog walking company, informed me that many more people approached him if he was walking dogs around. A college student named Stephanie told me that her dog helped her immensely in any social context because she is painfully shy. Tiffany, who informed me she had just moved to New York from Chicago, said that she hoped walking her Chihuahua around would help her make some new friends. Having established that dog walkers feel able to interact more easily with strangers when walking their dogs, I began asking dog walkers if they noticed an increased level of interaction not only with strangers in their ethnic groups, but strangers of other ethnicities as well.

Most individuals responded immediately in the affirmative, stating that they noticed an increase in social interaction with strangers of all ethnicities. One woman named Judy informed me that she was constantly seeing seemingly unusual mixtures of people who walked their dogs together. She told me that though she could not join a dog group because her dog was shy, she found it interesting how people who might never speak to one another otherwise were united by their pets. Mark, the proud owner of a terrier mix said that dogs, especially puppies, easily facilitate conversation amongst all different kinds of people because so many people like dogs. Based on these responses, I concluded that dogs act as social catalysts within and between different ethnic groups.

Throughout this class, I have learned of the differences between different eth]nic groups and how these ethnic groups interact. Oftentimes the differences between different ethnic groups may cause tension and distance between individuals. However, my research and studies have confirmed that one successful way to bridge the gap between individuals of different ethnicities is to allow them to interact using their pets.

WORKS CITED

Wood, Lisa J. Giles-Corti, Billie. Bulsara, Max K. Bosch, Darcy A. “More Than a Furry    Companion: The Ripple Effect of Companion Animals on Neighborhood           Interactions and Sense of Community.” Society and Animals. 15 (2007) 43-56.           Web. 15 May 2012.

 

McNicholas, June. Collis, Glyn M. “Dogs as Catalysts for Social Interactions:       Robustness of the Effect.” British Journal of Psychology. (2000), 91, 61-70.             Web. 15 May 2012.