Skip to main content

Is Humanizing Harmful to Our Dogs

Anthropomorphize –  “the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states, and objects or abstract concepts.”  Eric Goebelbecker
 How many times have you or someone you know referred to a dog as a “four-legged child” or “Fur Kid”? I myself have many times. In itself, there really is nothing wrong with wanting to treat your dog like one of the family but just as you would look out for the well being of your family members, you have to look out for your pet’s as well. Going overboard on how much you baby your pet can be psychologically harmful to their well being.
 Dogs need certain things for them to lead healthy happy lives. The top 5 are:
1. A confident leader - not a dominant pack leader, but someone who sets rules and boundaries and helps hold them accountable to them.  Someone who helps them to LEARN how to live in our lives. 
2. Exercise - actual activity to burn energy.  This can be play in the back yard if it's structured play.  A good long 30 minute or more game of fetch or chase in the yard.  Running through an Agility course.  
3. Structure -  Making Training an everyday part of life.  Sitting before going in and out of doors, not dashing out a door just because it's open.  
4. Rules - Those rules and boundaries we talked about in #1.  Don't jump on our guests, don't steal food from our hands or our tables and such. 
5. Boundaries - Only allowed up on the furniture when invited up.  
The above are just examples of boundaries we have in our house.  Every house has to set its own rules and boundaries.  When we do not set these ground rules, we don’t understand the real harm that we are causing our dogs. Our lack of consistency can sow the seeds of Separation Anxiety in our dogs.  
By imposing thoughts and behaviors that are not really part of our dog's thought processes, we try to make them seem and “act” more human. Dogs have drives that set them apart from humans. The three main drives of dogs are prey, defense, and pack. Each of these drives causes dogs to behave in ways that we do not always understand. When we treat our dogs like they are little humans we are not looking out for their best interests. By assigning human traits and personalities to dogs we turn a blind eye to their language, behaviors, and needs. Doing this can cause serious psychological problems for the dog that can manifest in a number of different ways including stress, chewing, and even digestive issues.
Prey drive is something we have almost all dealt with.  When you see your dog going after his stuffed toy making it squeak and tearing the stuffing from it, that is Prey drive.   The reality of the situation is that he is practicing killing skills. These are basic innate attributes that dogs have that passed down for generations, no amount of carrying them around in a little fashionable bags is going to change that.
 I  met a little dog, who we shall name Fufu (to protect her true identity) that was unable to even interact with other people and dogs because of her fear. She had been adopted from a pet rescue. The owner had not properly socialized her and treated the dog as her child. She cradled her like a baby against her chest and protested against the fact that her dog would need to go outside. These situations are not good for dogs. If her owner would just allow her to “be” a dog and give her the things she needs in her life to be stable, I think she would have had a very different attitude towards other dogs and people.  In itself being “babied” as such may not be to0much for some dogs, but this little dog was so fearful and nervous that she couldn’t even hold down her breakfast.
It’s often said of humans that we need all things in moderation I think the same principle should also be applied for how we humanize our dogs. Take dressing your dog for example. You have the owner of a short-haired small dog who puts a warm shirt or coat on their dog in the winter versus the owner who dresses their dog up in PJs every night for bed. The first owner is being responsible and looking out for their pet while having their pet out in the elements. Is the second owner is taking it a bit far and treating the dog as they would their child in dressing them for bed?
Which one do you think could be anthropomorphizing their dog?
Update:
Since originally writing this post I have gotten my dream breed.  A Corgi, I do indeed put pajamas on him at night but it's to keep him from shedding all over my bed more than anything.  

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 5, 2019 at 5:34 AM

    I am guilty of this too. I treat Rylie at times as though she were my granddoggie. It's hard to look at her as a "dog". I put a shirt on her when we go places that may be cold. I try not to dress her when we go for walks though. I'm trying LOL

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Positive Changes of Dog Training

In the last century dog training has been under going an evolution of sorts.  It wasn’t so long ago that the lexicon of dog training included words like punishment, compulsion and Intimidation.  The tools of the trade where things designed to inflict pain and cruelty as a way of training dogs to do or not do things the handlers wanted.  Dogs were punished with ear pinches and the like, if they didn’t perform the desired behaviors.  The idea of training a dog was to break the dog of some bad habit it had.   One of the forefathers of scientific study into dog behavior was Edward Thorndike (1874-1949).  He studied the effect of positive reinforcement on dog behavior.  Thorndike called his study the Law of Effect.  His study put forth the idea that the key to understanding how to train dogs was to understand canine behavior.  Behaviors that produce an effect that is desirable are ones that a dog is more likely to repeat, whereas behaviors...
1 comment
Read more

The Kona Diaries - Secondary Fear Stage and Vet Visits

This morning I had a plan.  I was going to take Kona to Hollywood Feed for some social interactions.  Since spending all this time at home with the COVID-19 Shutdown, she has regressed a lot on her social skills.  My intention was to do some filming of her while we were out, however that was quickly abandoned.  At first, she did pretty well, she walked with me and would every now and then forge ahead of me but would come back to heel when I asked.  Not once did she try to take anything off the shelves though.  I was very proud.  As we made a loop around to the front counter she caught sight of this sign spinning in the air and she just lost it.  She never once barked at it but she crouched down and her legs were shaking.  We have definitely had a setback.  After a nap to try and get some relief from a migraine that had started making me feel sick, I went out with the pups and found a huge blood smear on my patio at first I thought Ko...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interactive toys and games for dogs.

  Our dogs need physical exercise, we all know that. You hear all the time about how you should be taking your dog on walks every day to meet their exercise needs. Do you know though, that you need to meet their mental stimulation needs as well? A lot of our dogs stay home while we are at work or school during the day. When we do not meet our dog's energy outlet needs, they tend to find a way to get rid of that energy. Usually, it's by doing something we won't like, such as playing tug with the curtains, playing with the oversized stuffed toys on the sofa, (throw pillows) or scavenging for super yummy treats that were hidden in that tall can thing in the kitchen (trash can).   There are ways that we can help our dogs burn energy mentally just like we do physically. A lot of the time mental exercise can be even more exhausting than physical exercise. The following are interactive food toys that you can get on Amazon. Snuffle Mat These are used to feed your dog their ...
Post a Comment
Read more