Young children with pet dogs seen having fewer social interaction problems than other kids

Young children with family dogs were 23 percent less likely to have social interaction problems than children whose households do not have a dog, some recent research suggests.

The finding comes from an analysis of data from a three-year study of 1,646 households with preschool children ages 2 to 5. Specifically, the researchers found that children who had a dog were 30 percent less likely to engage in antisocial behavior and 40 percent less likely to have problems interacting with other children than were youngsters from homes that did not include a dog.