THEThe dog is no longer man’s best friend, faithful companion and ally for life. He’s our sonto be spoiled in every way. She tells it, describing herself as the first “dog mother” of the large group, the journalist Charlotte Cripps in an article in The Independent. Telling the phenomenon of parenting towards dogshe wonders if, perhaps, we haven’t gone too far.
The (maternal!) guilt we feel when we leave our dog. Aren’t we exaggerating?
An important indicator to evaluate whether the threshold has been exceeded is the sense of guilt. «I constantly wonder if I’m not good enough for my dog» she admits. «If I don’t cuddle him enough. If he’s bored. If he is not taken for walks enough. Should you follow a raw food diet? Do you take supplements? Are you wearing a quilted jacket?
As a puppy, Cripps says, she sang lullabies to her furry friend and made him sleep with her every night in her bed: «he was a surrogate baby». Then, facing the ordeals of PMA, she truly became a mother, and now the sense of guilt towards the dog devours her.
The three categories of the dog-human relationship
The reason why you suffer from this guilt “so ridiculously” is because you fall back in the “parent” typology, one of the three categories into which all dog owners fall according to scientists at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary. Their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, reveals that “parents” are the largest group of dog owners (54%): they consider their dog as a pseudo-child with whom they have a close bond, similar to the human one. Just look at how the expressions pet parent or dog parent have definitely outclassed dog owner. We don’t “own” our animals, we are their dad and mom.
So much so the sense of guilt you feel towards furry friends is no different from what a mother feels towards her child. It’s a condition that makes us feel like we’ve never done enough, or well enough, for our dogs.
It is not the only “style” that can be adopted. The other types treat the dog like a “friendly colleague” (applies to owners of working or hunting dogs), or as a “company”. In other words, it is reported to the old idea that it is a pet.
From Paris Hilton to Queen Elizabeth: parents of very famous dogs
The pet parent population is also filled with famous personalities. You see Paris Hilton, who once built a dog-sized replica of his own home for his dogs. OR Emilia Clarke, who baked a cake for her dachshund Ted to celebrate his second birthday and posted it on Instagram. But also Queen Elizabethevery Christmas, she gave each of her corgis her own stocking, which she filled. At night, his dogs slept in a special “corgi room” in raised wicker baskets lined with pillows to keep out drafts. And cuddling the dogs was a habit of the aristocracy since 1700: Marie Antoinette allowed her family to sleep in elaborate kennels that resembled a miniature canopy bed, with decorations to match.
The dog products market takes advantage of this
But today the majority of owners, ordinary people, behave in this way. They go shopping for the pet in what are now boutiques selling pet supplies. They take them to the spa, order an ultrasonic teeth cleaning, choose exclusively organic food and luxury accessories. And, when they go to work, they obsessively check on the animal thanks to the cameras installed for this purposetormented by guilt.
We treat animals as we were treated by our parents
A recent study of dog owners in the UK and US and published in Animals he discovered that how people treat their dogs depends on the parenting styles they experienced during childhood. Those who grew up with “permissive parenting” will develop a more parental bond with their dog. Those who have had “authoritative parenting” are more likely to prioritize obedience. Many study participants confirmed that review aspects of the relationship with their parents in their way of relating to dogs. For example, the desire to compensate for any shortcomings or to replicate attitudes perceived as positive.
A certain degree of anthropomorphism can also be usefulbecause it allows you to recognize emotions in pets and take care of them better. But the danger is one “overdiagnosis” of canine behaviors. And the market is benefiting from it.
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