Are Pets Really People?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many pet owners treat "Fido" or "Mittens" like a member of the family, but are pets really people?

NO! They are animals. They can think, make decisions and feel emotions, but their concept of the environment is not the same as ours due to a differently developed system of perception. An animal's different viewpoint of the world leads to a different understanding, thus different needs and intentions. Distinct needs and intentions lead to unique emotions, and so forth.  

Some pet owners try to “humanize” their pets by assigning them human motivations and then expect “human” behavior from their pets. In fact, much of the frustration I witness when working as a pet psychologist is that owners expect their pets to act and respond much like humans. What I've discovered is that the pet is exhibiting normal behavior for its species, but since the behavior does not match the owner's expectations, the animal is labeled as “abnormal.”

Even though we are human and our pets are animals, we can still grow to understand them, and them us. Both owner and animal can learn to love, trust and respect the demands of the other. Still, we are different! Despite these differences, we can make amazing discoveries in the process of learning our pet loved ones.

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What Motivates Us to Get a Pet?

What motivates us to get a pet? In general, people normally buy an animal so that they can have a companion, a friend, or a partner, but one that does not come with the responsibility of a child or the lifelessness of a toy. People who live in cities often buy pets as an attempt to unify with nature. In the past, animals were purchased for their working qualities – some of them were good hunters, shepherds, guards, etc., and these qualities were actively used, which helped to build trust and partnership between an owner and a pet. Now, despite the variety in breeds, the working qualities in animals do not carry the same weight that they once did. For the most part, people tend to buy animals to fill a void. In my experience, quite often the owners simply want a companion, which is a perfectly valid reason to purchase a pet. However, problems arise when there is an incorrect perception of the animal and its breed characteristics or an ignorance and misunderstanding of the causes of a pet’s behavior.