When Pets are Treated Like Humans Blog about Pet Animals from Animal Friends Insurance
Is It OK To Treat Our Pets Like Humans?
Most people consider their pets at least to some extent as part of their family. After all, they share our space, we feed them, care for them and take similar steps to protect them as we would with ourselves - for instance by keeping our pet insurance premiums up to date. At the extreme end of the scale, there are many people who treat their pets as if they were their real children. Just like anything else there are pros and cons to treating your pet like a person.
A recent poll by the Associated Press found that over half of American pet owners consider their pets to be part of their family. It seems single people are more likely to treat their dog like a person than married couples are. About 25% say they celebrate their dog's birthday and about a third include their dog's name in holiday cards.
It is obviously very important that to be a responsible pet owner you need to treat your pets well. However, it's also very important to remember they are not in fact human. Dogs are very people oriented but they need to know their place within the family to avoid bad behavioural problems. Also your dog needs to be disciplined differently than you would a child; you cannot rationalise with a dog, and you can't put him on the naughty step either!
Your dog needs a balanced nutritional diet and you should always remember that feeding them human food can be unhealthy. There are some foods that we eat that are toxic to our pets, such as chocolate. Feeding your dog small treats or an occasional table scrap is fine. If you are feeding them table scraps everyday they can very quickly become overweight, which can lead to health problems; this in turn could invalidate your dog insurance policy if your dog should need surgery which is complicated due to weight problems.
It is perfectly normal and fun to celebrate a pet's birthday or to include their name on your holiday cards. My own daughter thinks it's great fun to receive Christmas presents from her Godparents' dogs (Maggie and Oscar), and I'm sure that this is a tradition which she will remember for a long time! Just make sure that your pet's birthday cake is made out of pet food and not human food. When a person treats their dog as a family member they are usually lucky enough to own a dog that is very loving and caring, but do remember that it is still an animal and cannot be expected to understand anything on the same level as even a small child does.
You should definately treat your dog as part of your family as long as you remember that they are not human. If they know their place within the pack and are well treated they will be loyal and contented four-legged friends of the family for many years to come, and in some cases can provide companionship and happiness where it may otherwise be lacking.
