The dog owner study background

Gut microbiota are all the microscopic organisms that live in the digestive tracts of humans and other animals. Studies of gut microbiota are relatively new, but there is preliminary evidence on the effect of changes in gut microbiota on:

• digestion
• a healthy immune system
• heart health
• mood and mental health

Human gut microbiota is relatively well-studied, but little is known about the gut microbiota of dogs. Since dog ownership is associated with an improvement in human health, we would like to assess the effect that dog ownership may have on the individual gut microbiota of their owners.

Canine and human gut microbiota have found to be similar in previous studies, but those studies did not look at dogs and owners, but rather separate groups of people and dogs. We propose that the gut microbiota of dogs and their owners will be even more similar. No study to date has compared the gut microbiota of dogs and their owners living within the same environment. Gut microbiota are influenced by diet, lifestyle, activity, and living environment. We think that these factors may affect the gut microbiota of dogs and owners who share the same household. We will focus on similarities caused by shared diet and lifestyle, and assess if these similarities or differences make us and our dogs more or less healthy.  

- To look at differences and similarities between gut microbiota of dogs and their owners sharing the same household

- To assess the effect of shared lifestyle on signals of health and disease within the gut microbiota

Dogs and people will benefit by knowing about what can change in your microbiome when you own a dog, and how you influence your dog’s microbiome. We will also aim to answer why the similarities/differences occur – is it due to shared activities, shared household, or dietary habits? This may partially answer the question of why owning a dog has a positive influence on human health. We will look for shared beneficial gut bacteria, and aim to market these to nutrition companies as potential probiotics.

Since this is a pilot study, larger scale studies will be needed and funding has been applied for these, in order to conduct more advanced analysis, and to recruit more participants so that different diet and activity groups and different dog breeds can be studied. We envision that providing the appropriate funding is obtained, we will be contacting industry nutrition companies to apply our knowledge to development of probiotic supplements in 2-4 years. Publications arising from this pilot study and further studies will identify potentially beneficial microbes in the gut.

We will encourage our participants to take an active part in our study. We will be posting on social media, and send monthly emails to people who subscribe to our newsletter. Each participant will receive their individual microbiome results, and those of their dog.

We will also aim to present at science events aimed at the general public, including:

• Pint of Science
• SoapBox Science
• Science week

We will be updating the website and our social media on our participation in these events.