This article is part of our special Pets section, about scientists’ growing interest in our companion animals.
Pets are more popular than ever. About two-thirds of American households own at least one pet, up from 56 percent in 1988. according to the American Pet Products Associationand Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022, up from $123.6 billion in 2021. An estimated 91 million households in Europe own at least one pet, up from 20 million in the past decade. The pet population in India reached 31 million in 2021, compared to 10 million in 2011.
And our pets are becoming more and more like us – or at least that seems to be our goal. We pamper them with tailor-made feeding plans and knapsack carriers, hydrotherapy for dogs and stays in boutique cat hotels. At All the Best, an upscale pet store chain in Seattle, the most popular items are cat and dog items enrichment toys, dintended to stimulate them and bring happiness to animals who are increasingly “lying around alone and bored,” says Annie McCall, the chain’s marketing director.
Now some animal welfare ethicists and veterinary scientists are wondering whether we have gone too far in our attempts to humanize our pets. The more we treat pets like people, they argue, the more limited and dependent on us our pets’ lives become, and the more health and behavioral problems they develop.
“We now view pets not only as family members, but as equals to children,” says James Serpell, a professor emeritus of ethics and animal welfare at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “The problem is that dogs and cats are not children, and owners have become increasingly protective and restrictive. So animals are not able to express their own canine and feline natures as freely as they could.”
The health risks of course already start with breeding. One of the most popular dog breeds in the United States is the French Bulldoga member of the brachycephalic family of flat-faced dogs who get along well with people, but have difficulty breathing, among other serious health problems.
But we’re also changing our animals’ relationships with their environment. Out of concern about bird predation, many cats now spend their entire lives indoors. Until the late 1970s, even city dogs spent most of their time outdoors, either in the backyard or running loose in the neighborhood. Now, says Jessica Pierce, a Colorado bioethicist whose work focuses on animal-human relationships, “the unleashed, free-range dog is seen as being against the natural order of things.”
One of the fastest growing market segments is the so-called pet containment sector, which also includes crates and indoor enclosures, head harnesses and electronic collars. “The level of restrictions that dogs face is enormous,” said Dr. Pierce. Although dogs were more likely to be hit by cars decades ago, she added, “these risks were outweighed by the freedom of experience and exercise.”
The modern pet paradox, in a nutshell: “Owners don’t want dogs to behave like dogs.” said dr. Serpell.
Although dogs are allowed in an increasing number of human spaces – restaurants, offices, shops, hotels, as well as in parks with dedicated dog runs – their growing presence has not translated into greater independence.
The confinement and isolation have in turn led to an increase in separation anxiety in animals and aggression, said Dr. Serpell. About 60 percent of cats and dogs aYou are now overweight or obese. And due in part to the burdens and costs of modern pet ownership (vet fees, sitters, boarding fees), more and more people are abandoning animals in animal shelters, leading to higher euthanasia rates. More than 359,000 dogs were euthanized in shelters in 2023, a five-year high, according to Shelter Animals Count, an animal protection group.
“We’re in a strange moment of obsession with pets,” said Dr. Pierce. “There are too many and we keep them too intensively. It’s not good for us and it’s not good for them.”
Granted, taming an animal always meant finding a balance between its nature and ours. “Defining freedom for a dog, an animal that has been artificially domesticated and selected by humans for so long, is a very interesting puzzle,” says Alexandra Horowitz, a dog cognition researcher at Barnard College.
She made a contrast with stray dogs, a category that includes most of the world’s estimated 900 million dogs. Free-roaming canines live shorter lives and have no guarantee of food, Dr. noted. Horowitz, but they can make all their own choices. “That’s an interesting model for us to look at: thinking about how we can make a dog’s life richer with choices, so that he’s not just subject to our whims, without endangering society as a whole,” she said.
In recent years, the Scandinavian countries have begun to ban the breeding of some dog breeds that are particularly susceptible to disease, such as the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. In Sweden, it is illegal to leave pets alone at home for long periods of time; in both Sweden and Finland, it is illegal in most cases to keep animals in a crate at home.
But whether these animal welfare policies reconcile or reinforce the fundamental paradox of modern pet ownership is unclear, said Harold Herzog, a professor emeritus of psychology at Western Carolina University who studies animal-human relationships. “The more we see dogs and cats as autonomous beings, the less we can justify keeping them as pets,” he said.
A few years ago, Dr. Herzog went on vacation to the island of Tobago and spent a lot of time observing the stray dogs that roamed the countryside. “I asked myself, ‘Would I rather live in Manhattan as a pampered dog, or would I rather be a dog in Tobago hanging out with my friends?'” Dr. Herzog said. He concluded, “I would rather be a dog in Tobago.”
That’s not a practical option for most people, or necessarily a good thing for the Tobago people of the world. Instead, Dr. Serpell offered the following advice to the modern pet owner: “Above all, enjoy your dog’s company. But dogs are not people. Get to know the animal from its own perspective rather than forcing it to conform to yours. It allows you to experience the life of another creature vicariously.”
