CARY, N.C. -

Remember Nissan’s “Dogs Love Trucks!” commercials from the 1990s?  

Well, I have marginally strong anecdotal evidence that dogs really love whatever vehicle lets them stick their head out of the window (safely) and enjoy a cool breeze.

Of course, that’s based solely on my childhood observations of a regal, roly-poly chow named Alvin.

In honor of National Pet Day on Monday, auto shopping site BestRide.com and the CarTalk radio program tackled this topic, but used a bit more science than I did.

(No disrespect to the late, great and overweight Alvin.)

A poll that Harvard Applied Mathematics students conducted asked more than 3,000 pet owners about the brands of cars they owned, as well as how many pets and which types of pets they had.

Below are just a few of the highlights shared by BestRide and CarTalk in a news release summing up the report:

  • Dog-only folks were much more likely to also have a Hyundai, Volvo or a Lincoln
     
  • As the number of cats goes up, so does the likelihood of owning a Subaru.
     
  • Each of the Lincoln and Audi owners in the surveyed group owned either a dog or a cat.
     
  • The breed most popular among Acura owners? Poodles.
     
  • Bulldog owners were most closely aligned with Ford (22 percent more likely) and Cadillac (17 percent more likely).

This next finding wasn't included in the news release,  but was included in the report posted to BestRide.

"Fighting like cats and dogs' might be a well-worn idiom, but Jeep, Ford, and Dodge owners keep the peace in their homes like no other brand owners. They are statistically more likely to own BOTH a dog and a cat, relative to the general population," report author Craig Fitzgerald writes in the post on BestRide.com.

As someone who grew up with both cats and dogs in our house, I can appreciate what Fitzgerald means by "keep the peace." 

Now, clearly, pet ownership doestn't guarantee how a consumer might behave when it comes to car-shopping. But it at least has some influence, as Fitzgerald indicates.

"The results, analyzed by a Harvard mathematician, say that dog and cat ownership not only influences brand choice, but that multiple pet ownership, as well as affinity for certain breeds can indicate a much higher preference for certain automobile brands," Fitzgerald writes.

And who knows, maybe it can help you fetch a new lead or two. 

The full results from their study can be found at this post.