Men can boost their attractiveness by owning this type of pet

Morning walk with dog (black labrador retriever). Young man is training his puppy walking on the leash. (iStock)

Do you ever feel like Cupid has put you in the doghouse when it comes to finding love? Well, adopting a furry companion may help improve your fate. But not just any pet will do, a new survey suggests.

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Petsies, a company that makes stuffed animals, surveyed 1,000 men and women on how attracted they were to the opposite sex when possessing differently sized cats and dogs. Researchers showed study participants 12 pictures of the same people. Half of the group saw the person with a pet, while the other half saw him or her without a pet. Researchers used two pictures for each type of pet, and they were classified as “cat, kitten, puppies, small-sized dogs, medium-sized dogs and large-sized dogs.”

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In the study, women rated men toting puppies as almost 24 percent sexier, 14 percent more trustworthy and 13 percent more attractive than the same man not carrying a canine. Meanwhile, dogs that weren’t too big or too small gave women the biggest sexiness boost, as men rated them about 7 percent sexier and more attractive than if they weren’t carrying a canine at all. But in terms of trustworthiness, small dogs gave women the biggest advantage — men rated them nearly 9 percent more so than women without a dog.

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Owning a kitten or cat, on the other hand, didn’t do women in the survey any favors. Women with kittens were perceived as the least attractive, and women with cats were rated lowest on sexiness and trustworthiness. Surprising to some, owning a large dog did men the fewest favors in terms of sexiness and attractiveness. And for the men, being a medium-sized dog owner led to the lowest trustworthy rating.

Other ways to boost your attractiveness
That’s generally good news for dog lovers, but fortunately, owning a particular furry friend isn’t the only way to increase your attractiveness to the opposite sex, other research suggests.

While being confident, having a symmetrical face and maintaining proper hygiene are key for both men and women, men with beards in particular may have more luck in love, an August 2016 study in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology suggests.

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Another possible way men can snag a mate? Be fiscally responsible.

A March 2013 Michigan University study found that women were more drawn to men who had self-control with spending, as it shows responsibility and stability — two desirable traits for a serious relationship.