Everyone has relationships; with our mothers and fathers, siblings, strangers, strangers who become best friends. We have relationships with the people we work with, the people we fall in love with, in the stores we visit, we even have relationships with stories in the books we read and the authors we never meet, television characters and movie stars we admire. There is no relationship however like the ones we share with our dogs, cats, rabbits and even sometimes snakes and goldfish. Whatever the species, each of us share a unique bond with the animals we bring into our lives and they affect us deeply, on an entirely different level than any other relationship.
Ever since I can remember animals have been a constant in my life. I am forever intrigued by the relationships people share with their pets and how they deal with them. I worked for several years in a pet supply store, which focused on natural health and food products. Over the years I found more and more people were not only seeking better alternatives for their pets in the way of diets and such, but they were also looking to better understand their companion animals. More and more people were asking why their dogs and cats were acting certain ways, was it because they were angry? Were they unhappy or simply being bad? Regardless of the questions, it can only be positive when people start looking for answers about the animals in their lives, in the hopes of finding a solution, learning more about them and what makes them tick.
For far too long, much of the world has looked at animals as though they do not have the capacity to "feel". Recent studies have proven however that dogs, cats and other animals do in fact share similar emotions to humans, such as joy, grief, jealousy and even love. Animals like cats, dogs and even rats have the same brain structure as humans and release the same hormones that produce feelings of pleasure. I think everyone has seen an angry animal, so there really should be no question about the fact they feel fear or anger. So why is it so difficult for people to believe another species can experience the same emotions as humans? The debate continues, as I suspect it always will. Are we just anthropomorphizing our furry companions, hoping they love us and we share some unbreakable bond? I guess it's just a matter of perception and experience whether you believe one way or another.
Not everyone shares the same type of bond with animals, each relationship is unique and each experience is as different as each animal. There are people who have "pets" because they like the idea of it or they believe it's good for their children etc., but they do not see those animals as sentient beings who feel joy, sadness and love. Others have dogs or cats they leave tied up outside or to roaming free, because they feel it's good to have a dog or cat around but they do not believe in or understand the importance of training, structure and socialization. But then there are the true animal people. These are the people who share their couch, their bed, their car and their soul openly with their companion animals. These are the people who, even though they lose a piece of their heart each time, will always open their door to another dog, cat or whatever other animal has stolen their soul.
It is in these different groups of people and the animals they share their lives with that you can see the role the human/animal bond plays and what happens when that bond is absent. The bond you have with the animals in your life will ultimately determine the quality of the relationship you share and also the quality of life for that animal. In my own observations, I have seen a marked difference in the behaviour of dogs and cats who live in homes where the humans involve them in their every day lives, talking to them, playing with them and teaching them what is expected of them and the dogs and cats who simply exist in or outside a home, with little to no contact other than what is commanded of them.
As with any other relationship, it is what you invest in your companion animals and what you give to the relationship that will determine the bond you have with them and what they give back to you in return. When we connect with an animal on such an intimate level, it is undeniable that emotion is involved, from both sides. When our companion animals leave us forever, the hurt is like nothing else and there really is no other relationship, no other joy or love and no other loss, like it in the world.
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