Why do homeless people have dogs?

  Homeless woman with dogs 
  Originally uploaded by Franco Folini

Many homeless people have dogs. There are many theories why from for the company to it helps them get more money when begging to the dogs protect them and their belongs while they are sleeping. (I was in a Walgreens in downtown San Francisco once and I wondered why everybody in line had a bag of dog food until I got outside and saw a man with a dog begging. He was getting a lot of dog food!) Personally, I think homeless people have dogs for the company. Living on the streets is lonely and as every one know dogs make great, non-judgmental companions.

The other debate about homeless people with dogs is how good it is for the dogs. While a few people argue that the dogs enjoy being with someone all day long and getting lots of exercise walking around, most people agree that most street dogs (even those that belong to homeless people) are malnourished and are often not vaccinated or spayed or neutered. While there are some veterinary clinics that will treat the pets of the poor for free or little cost, many of the homeless shelters will not accept people that have pets. So both owners and pets are constantly exposed to the elements and often homeless people have other problems like mental illnesses or drug addictions which can affect their pets. (On the other hand, pets might be really good for them.)

I've heard as many of 5% of homeless people have pets but I don't have any definite statistics.