Dog lovers report being as attached to their pooches on a series of standard relationship measures as they are to their mothers, siblings, best friends and lovers – and often even more attached to them than they are their fathers.

The study, which was limited to college students, was published in the April issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

"College students were saying, 'I enjoy the physical presence of my dog as much as I enjoy the physical presence of my father and my brothers and sisters,'" says Larry Kurdek, a psychology professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. "People simply like being around their dogs."

Kurdek said the study was inspired partly personal experience. His cocker spaniel-poodle mixes were an important source of support to him during treatment for colon cancer two years ago, according to a Montreal Gazette story. (Read it here.)

"Although I was always attached to the dogs, there was a dimension of my attachment to them that surfaced during this crisis mode," he said.

As for why fathers rank relatively low on people's attachment scales, he chalks it up to stereotypical notions that mothers are nurturing, emotionally expressive and self-sacrificing, while fathers are more emotionally aloof.

Kurdek's research also debunks the notion that people form close relationships with animals because they have a hard time relating to other people. He found no link between the quality of people's relationships with other humans and with animal companions.