Overview
- The PLOS One study, which was published on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, used wrist and collar activity monitors to track 25 people and 38 dogs for four weeks and found no significant impact of dogs on objective sleep duration or sleep quality.
- Activity data showed human and dog nighttime movement often occurred at the same time and that human movement more frequently preceded dog movement, suggesting owners commonly disturb their pets rather than the reverse.
- Many participants still reported disrupted sleep and said they felt safer sleeping with their dog, creating a disconnect between subjective reports and the devices’ objective measures.
- Authors and independent experts flagged key limits: the small, nonrepresentative sample, overrepresentation of women, restricted breeds (mostly huskies and malamutes), the trackers’ inability to measure sleep stages, and the lack of a dog-free control group.
- The study contrasts with a larger 2024 survey linking pet co-sleeping to poorer sleep and underscores a broader methodological split between self-reported surveys and tracker-based research that must be resolved to judge long-term health consequences.