Dogs are described as man s best friend but that close-relationship is more to do with how women treated them with affection and named them, a study finds.
Washington State University researchers searched extensive collections of writings by anthropologists on traditional, subsistence-level societies around the world.
The team discovered a pattern in traditional societies where women were more involved with dogs - humans became more useful to canines.
In traditional societies - which act as a mirror for early human history - the more a woman is involved in the care of a dog, the more it becomes part of the family - including having a name and sleeping in its owner s bed, the authors discovered.