"Animals are such agreeable friends -- they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."
George Eliot
"I don't hate animals and I would never hurt an animal; I just don't actively care about them. When a coworker shows me cute pictures of her dog, I struggle to respond correctly, like an autistic person who has been taught to recognize human emotions from flash cards. In short, I am the worst."
Tina Fey (from her book Bossypants)
A couple weeks ago, my friend Melody and I were discussing her and her husband’s slightly-evil cat, Shadow. The cat had bitten Mel a couple times and she was concerned about any possible run-ins between her one-year-old daughter and the cat. It also had a history of causing some trouble around the house. Technically, it was Melody’s husband’s cat, so she couldn’t just up and get rid of it, much as she would have liked to. We got into a conversation about animals, particularly the domestication of them, and it got me thinking about why people have pets in the first place.
I’ll be honest: I'm not a friend to the animals. I fall into the Tina Fey camp of thinking (see above). My family never had animals growing up. On the rare occasion that I did ask for a dog or a cat, my mom would always tell me, “You have a brother.” I think because we didn’t have pets growing up, I vacillate somewhere between “I’m slightly scared of animals because I don’t have any history of knowing how they will act” and “I'm just not a friend to the animals and don’t want to feel like I have to be.” I know I’ve said once or twice that I “hate” animals…but I don’t. Hatred is something active. I am just generally indifferent to them. There certainly are specific things I don’t like about animals, particularly dogs. They are space-invaders (that doesn’t mean space-invaders like E.T…just that they like to be in people’s personal space), they get hair all over my clothes, and they never learn to clean up their poop independently. When kids in my classes would find out that I lived alone, they used to ask me, “Isn’t it lonely when you get home at the end of the day?” and I always answered, “Nope, I have 160 little co-dependent beings that I have to help all day. I don’t need another one when I get home.” I think that sums up my general feelings about animals.
All that being said, I can (kind of) see why people love them so much. I can appreciate the fact that animals provide companionship, that animals can be comforting, and that animals are considered a form of protection. Sometimes I let them touch me. My friend Melody’s dog, Jack, is pretty cute, and if I'm feeling generous, I'll let him sit on my lap. Growing up, my aunt and uncle had a cat that I am fairly certain I nagged to death by trying to make it like me. I have had flashes of animal interest, but I’ve never crossed over from “interest” to “I’d really like to have a pet.” I’d say that since I was about twelve, I really haven’t cared two hoots about pets. So, even though I get the reasoning behind having a pet, I just don’t really get why people are so passionate about them. The concept of actually loving an animal is foreign to me.
So, this next little series of blog posts is going to be about pets. My original conversation with Melody triggered my interest about the historical background of pets, but as I’ve continued to think about it leading up to actually doing some reading on the topic, I guess there’s a part of me that is curious what our love of pets has to say about us as people. Is there some greater significance to the place that animals have in our society? What kinds of changes have occurred in how pets are viewed throughout history? How does all of this play into the very tricky area of animal rights?
So many questions. Here are the books that are hopefully going to help me answer some of them…and also help me think of new ones.
Katharine Macdonogh, Reigning Cats and Dogs
Sheila Keenan, Animals in the House: A History of Pets and People
Keltie Thomas, Animals That Changed the World
Tom Regan, Defending Animal Rights
Marina Belozerskaya, The Medici Giraffe and Other Tales of Exotic Animals and Power
Katherine C. Grier, Pets in America
Glad to see your post! I did have a dog that I LOVED growing up...however, now that we have three little ladies, a pet is about the last thing on my list of wants. We'll see what they convince us to do over the next few years....
ReplyDeleteSo this might now really apply to your particular topic, but Matthew Scully's book "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy" might give you another perspective. It literally changed the way I think about eating (and even whether we'll ever get a pet). Great topic!
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