Dogs heighten our sense of community, but cats don't, research shows | Lifestyle

"So cute: Is that a Labrador? Can I pet him? Oh, a terrier you say — my next guess! Did you move here recently by chance?" (Kseniya Mikheeva/Dreamstime/TNS)

"So cute: Is that a Labrador? Can I pet him? Oh, a terrier you say – my next guess! Did you move here recently by chance?"

And so begins another friendly chat with a stranger thanks to a dog. Be it getting a bit of tree-infused park air, ambling round the block or just a quick wander to the shops, having a dog on a lead or seeing one is always a potential ice-breaker.

Small wonder, then, that a team of Japanese researchers have found an association between owning a dog and having a "stronger sense of community" – an apparent outcome the team puts down to the pets doubling-up as a conduit for "neighbourhood-based connections."

"Compared to incidental interactions or friendships, anchored personal relationships fostered by dog ownership are more likely to be perceived as ties with neighbours," the researchers assert in a paper published in the science and medical journal PLOS One.

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