Dog ownership may make neighborhoods safer by increasing trust among residents

A new study suggests that the presence of dogs can improve neighborhood safety by increasing perceived security and sense of community trust.

Nicolo Pinchak, a sociologist at Ohio State University and lead researcher of the study, analyzed data on almost 44,000 residents of Columbus, Ohio, alongside census block group-level data on dog ownership and neighborhood-level measures of trust.

The researchers found that high-trust neighborhoods with high dog ownership tended to have less robbery, homicide and, to a lesser extent, aggravated assault.

“Studies find that people with dogs know more of their neighbors, have more frequent social interactions with neighbors, and get more physical exercise than those who do not, and these benefits appear to be exclusive to dogs (i.e., not apparent for people with only other kinds of animals),” Pinchak told NewsNation when asked what inspired him to study the topic.

“These benefits all align with (Jane) Jacobs’s account of the benefits of street monitoring among residents, so we got the data together and tested the theory.”

Jacobs was an important urban theorist, journalist and activist who argued a vibrant street life was critical to neighborhood safety and community, writing that "there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street."

The Ohio State study is titled “Paws on the street” as a reference to Jacob’s famous quote. He argued that the need to walk dogs brought people out into the community.

As an example, Pinchak explained, “Because robbery is a crime that tends to happen out on the street, this is exactly what Jacobs lead us to expect.”

Researchers found that high dog ownership was associated with lower property crimes, regardless of neighborhood trust levels. Pinchak said that was less about community trust and more about the perceived security of owning a dog.

“Studies have found that even “Beware of Dog” signs can deter motivated offenders, who tend to be looking for the easiest target possible,” he told News Nation.

The sociologist believes the study’s results generalize outside of Columbus but warned that the research was correlational, meaning that the direction of cause and effect was not established.