Companion Animals

On the CBC's Sunday afternoon "Writers and Company" Eleanor Wachtel, a skilled and personable interviewer, spoke with an Australian writer about her latest book. One in which a dog, held on a makeshift leash while being walked by its owner, a young east Indian boy transplanted to Australia, escaped into the bush and was never seen again. Ms. Wachtel asked the writer why it was that she hadn't given the dog a name. The writer's response was something to the extent that she eschewed the usual tendency of people to anthropomorphize dogs.

We animal lovers - companion-dog owners - do have a proclivity to think of our pets in some ways as we would human companions. In some ways they're more valued. They're always happy to be in our company, to do whatever we demand of them. As long as we reciprocate in the way that dogs can best appreciate our feelings for them. Feeding them, making them secure, caring for their well-being, exercising them as they do us in the mutual ritual of communion. Sometimes just noticing their presence; a murmured acknowledgement, a gentle pat will do.

I feel it's empathy for other living creatures that motivates us to react as we do to the animals that share our daily lives, more than actually anthropomorphizing them. The fact that we have sympathy for them, care for them, attempt to avert problems that might adversely affect them, groom and feed them, simply reflects the emotional investment we have in them as companions. If they are hungry or tired or feeling unwell we are concerned and we react as responsible dog owners, or companions of dogs, as you will.

We don't lose sight of the fact that a dog is a dog. However much we love that animal, care for and value it, it is not human, but it is a member of the canine community. Dogs respond to their genetically wired characteristics; different members than humans of the greater community of animal populations. Their responses and behaviours have been tradition-imprinted to internal needs and external stimuli. There is a certain sense of unpredictability as well; they are our pets and we feel we understand their personalities, but there are always surprises.

There are some similarities between the morphologies of humankind and other animals.
A sense of curiosity, of adventure, and above all we are creatures of habit. Finding comfort and pleasure in the things we become habituated toward. People are like that, dogs are as well. The familiar in our lives bring us comfort and give us a sense of security. There are some emotions in common that we can identify: fear, aggression, pleasure, satisfaction. And the bodily functions that all living creatures must submit to for survival.

Yes, some people with small dogs have a tendency to treat them somewhat more tenderly than they would large dogs. To baby the very small dogs, to take greater care of them. We do tend to invest a certain status upon these smaller dogs as truly dependent on our vigilance on their behalf. Including the use of garments on a seasonal basis, and foot-pad coverings in severe winter weather. This is taking care into another dimension, but sometimes a necessary one, given the breed and climate.

We care for our companion pets as extended members of our family. Not as humans, since we instinctively and intellectually recognize the differences in the animal kingdom, but as living beings valued for bringing another element of warmth and comfort, caring and responsibility into our lives. There really is no need to speak with contempt of being sensitive to the existence and needs of such companion animals, characterizing that sensitivity as confusing the species barrier.

We love our pets, feel empathy for them, and that makes us better human beings.