For many of us, dogs are like children. We make posts with their photos, we are proud of our successes and celebrate birthdays together. Psychologist and dog behaviorist Stanley Coren explores this trend and comes up with interesting numbers to prove that dogs are indeed becoming family members.
Stanley Coren enjoys worldwide prestige not only as a researcher of human psychology, but also as an animal psychologist and author of many bestsellers about dogs. His article is devoted to an interesting trend – to perceive dogs in the family as children.
This attitude is widespread not only in North America and Europe, but also in Russia, which can be confirmed by many dog owners living in big cities, where pets are made not for work or service, but “to love”.
Referring to the results of a study conducted in the US by Kelton Research, which included 1000 participants, Koren writes: “The status of dogs in families is changing. Judging by the answers, in the minds of Americans, dogs occupy an increasingly significant place, becoming members of the family, in fact, children.
The respondents themselves noted the difference in the importance of dogs in their lives decades ago, in childhood, and what role is assigned to furry “children” now. Two out of three respondents admitted that they are much more attentive and caring to pets than their parents did.
The most interesting result of the study was the confirmation of the fact that the border between children and dogs in the family is largely erased. Full members of the dog family were named by 81% of the participants. Their status has been equated to that of a child, and 54% of Americans now refer to themselves as “parents” rather than “owners” of their pets. Indeed, for many of us, this is another child in the family.
As the study showed, 58% of owners willingly call themselves dog “moms” and “dads”, not only answering questions from scientists, but also in ordinary communication with friends and strangers. At the same time, 35% are ready to call the dog itself a son or daughter.
The fact that 10% of respondents celebrate Father’s Day and Mother’s Day with their tailed “kids” also confirms that the perception of themselves as “dog parents” is spreading in the minds of people. Pets are a frequent topic of our conversations, and 77% of those surveyed admit to discussing their dogs with other people, referring to them as family members. Coren adds, “What’s more, another study found that we often use the same language and tempo when talking to our dogs as we do when talking to children.”
The following fact is also interesting. In ordinary families, children have different variants of the name, which parents use depending on the situation. As for dogs, “moms” and “dads” have at least two different nicknames for them, the choice of which also depends on the circumstances. This was confirmed by a third of the respondents.
So, as far as communication is concerned, we definitely perceive dogs as children. But Koren cites evidence that their status has grown over the past decades from just an animal to a full-fledged family member with not only children’s advantages and rights, but also responsibilities.
About 72% of survey participants who have both dogs and children reported that both have equal requirements for discipline in the family. And at the same time, although dogs are expected to behave well, they have special privileges in the house. The same study shows that 62% of them have their own chair, sofa or bed in the house.
The analogy between our attitudes towards dogs and children is reinforced by the fact that 81% of “dog parents” know the birthdays of their pets. Moreover, 77% of them celebrate and buy gifts for tailed birthdays. Traditional family lunches and dinners are now also complete without dogs. 74% of respondents said they eat at least once a day with their pets, mostly in the evening.
“Coming to visit, it’s easy to understand that you are dealing with parents who are proud of their children,” Stanley Coren writes about houses where children’s and family photos are hung on the walls. And again, these days there will certainly be about 7 photos of dogs hanging nearby, sometimes even in the office where the “parents” work. And 23% of owners have a photo album entirely dedicated to their pet.
Moreover, if it is difficult to imagine good parents without a photo of children in their phone or wallet, so do dog “moms” and “dads” will definitely have at least one photo with a “baby” that they carry with them.
Analytics of conversations within a couple shows that children, if any, very often become the main topic. But if a couple of dogs have dogs, their discussion takes up the lion’s share of the conversations in private. For example, 79% of survey participants said that they talk with their spouse about pets much more than about politics, and 55% discuss them more often than friends.
For 48% of people, dogs are a much more interesting topic than work. And, which is no longer even surprising, about 57% of couples admitted that they talk more about furry and tailed people than about sex.
The study was not intended to understand the reasons why dogs today are our “kids”. Perhaps this is because in North America, as in some other countries, many couples have few or no children.
According to another version, due to the long life expectancy, many parents experience the “empty nest syndrome” for quite a long time. Grown-up children move, sometimes even to another city, and dogs satisfy the emotional hunger of people who need to take care of someone and show parental feelings inherent in nature.
Whatever the reasons, dogs give us what we need – warm relationships, secure affection and sincere love.
About the Expert: Stanley Koren, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, animal psychologist, author of How to Talk to a Dog.