Pets, Human-animal Relationship

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

There are relationships between people, and there are other relationships in terms of their content … With many peculiar visible and imperceptible, at first glance, nuances and shades. This is the relationship between a person and his pet. Such a connection can have both its own mutual value and its own characteristics.

In some miraculous way or in a completely ordinary way, one day new inhabitants enter our house - animals …

Someone receives a cheerful little creature as a gift, someone throws it up, each, as they say, has its own fate of meeting with their pets.

Living with the family for some time, our pets become part of the family. They have their definite role in it.

Pets, be they a cat or a dog, for example, contribute in some way to the family system.

When an animal is still small, then it is akin to a cub. He does not like to be alone for a long time, squeaks and asks for food, warmth and communication. And also games.

What are the little fidgets doing! Tumbling, running endlessly, playing with toys or with what they have to … Looking at them at the same time - one continuous emotion. And yet, after all, you can turn on your inner child and take part in this whole performance! And get a lot of positive emotions.

Each animal over time forms its own character, which is influenced, of course, by the upbringing received from the owner.

The animal chooses its leader in the "pack" and obeys him. And also, in his own way, he loves, protects, rejoices in him, protects …

Why are the owners, and the members of the whole family, so attached to their pets?

Perhaps because they make up for the "blind spots" in the souls of the owners: they are not so lonely in the family and in the world, at home "someone" is always waiting for you and rejoices at your return, during the period of illness the animal supports with its attention, distracts from the sad mood, switches to a pleasant emotional wave.

And the person gets used to his pet. And he grieves when he has to say goodbye to him … And animals are not eternal, like all life on Earth.

Why is it so painful to let go of your pet? Because your animal is part of your life story. It accompanied you in moments of sorrow, difficulties, joy, good luck.

You took walks together, discovered new experiences, acquaintances … A pet is a witness to many experiences and significant family events. It brought something valuable and important to you. Some kind of common unique compatibility.

Animals cannot speak, but how can they understand their master! By smell (they have a very well developed sense of smell), look, some special sensations, they non-verbally read his state. And … we are ready to immediately take on all the "emotional burden" and the severity of the state of mind of the owner.

Pets in completely different forms show their attention and care to their owner: dogs can bark, even sing, squeal, whine and thus convey their attitude to what is happening. Cats - meow in a completely different tone or purr.

The true indicator and compass, for its owner, the internal state of a cat or dog, is the tail of an animal. From how this part of the animal's body behaves, you can understand a lot about its mood and well-being.

I would like to talk a little about the so-called "catomania" (not literally).

The popularity of cats has now acquired an unprecedented, in my opinion, scope.

Photos of favorite pets are displayed on their personal pages by their owners. They enthusiastically count the likes and read the laudatory comments.

However, it turns out that excessive love for a pet and overprotection for it may indicate that its owner has some rather significant psychological internal difficulties. And sometimes they can even border on mental health problems.

This is noted in cases where cats, for example, are the only source of joy and pleasure in life for their owner, causing only positive emotions. Without criticizing the behavior of the animal. The animal is, as it were, idealized and humanized.

A person can get hung up on an animal and create a deified fetish out of it, replacing the object of love that is missing in real life.

The animal takes on a special role in this case. This role is "obliged" to fill its owner with important and valuable sensory experiences: warmth, closeness, devotion, trust, tenderness, loyalty, understanding, love …

At the same time, the owner of the animal satisfies his need to be needed, important, responsible for someone's life.

Painful attachment in humans is manifested if the animal becomes the only and special meaning of life, "the light in the window." Replacing real, lively human relationships and spiritual closeness. The world around for a person narrows to the size of his pet.

Not all people can easily and freely create trusting and close relationships with their own kind. For various reasons: childhood grievances and emotional trauma, stress in adulthood, age crises … As a result, people are scared to open up and trust others.

And the animal is easier to trust, it is less pretentious in the sensory sphere and does not have such a rich arsenal of manipulative psychological "tricks" as a man. There is less chance that the animal will leave you, give up, betray, deceive, and play a "double game" in a relationship. All this is possible between people, of course. That is, with a pet, it becomes possible to create a trusting and such necessary safe relationship.

An animal in a family can "replace" a departed parent, loved one, girlfriend, compensate for the lack of communication and closeness with children. To realize, to some extent, your maternal instinct, expressed in taking care of the animal, feeding, caring for it, and its development.

An animal in the "dashing" periods of a person's life makes it clear to him that life goes on and he is needed by a living being - his pet.

A pet can fill the inner loneliness of its owner, creating its own unique world of human-animal interaction.

If we talk about completely pathological attachments to animals in humans, then, for example, there is such a disease - ailurophilia. This is a mental disorder that manifests itself in an over-dependence on cats. It is believed that such a mental disorder is even dangerous, both for the person himself and for his environment. The main occupation for a person is hoarding animals in large quantities, with which he lives and maintains them.

It can often manifest and develop in lonely and elderly people.

Such a disorder can develop in a person who has suffered severe mental trauma, crisis, loss of a loved one. Although, the animal helps, to some extent, in this case, to fill the resulting void in the soul.

The relationship between people presupposes openness, a high degree of trust, sympathy for each other, respect for the other's world …

People who, in childhood, experienced rejection of loved ones, felt the pain of losing basic trust and safe relationships, when their desires were ridiculed and their feelings were ignored, growing up, they get used to hiding their emotional world "in a shell", learn not to trust others and be, basically, closed for "invasion" of other people into their inner world. In order not to get hurt, not to retraumate again, trying to protect yourself in this way.

But this is for the human world. With animals, things can be different and simpler.

The need for love, tenderness, acceptance, intimacy, support, mutual trust is still present in every person. And animals help to reveal this to their master.

The pet will not criticize, compare, envy your successes, offend undeservedly and accepts its owner in any form.

That is why they become so valuable to one another.

Pets accept their "flock" and its inhabitants in different states. They show devotion, while at the same time, and the trust, which is so necessary for all family members, create by their participation a kind of "aura" of completeness, smoothing out the "roughness" of family relationships.

Children often want a home friend for themselves. They dream of him, draw him, mold him, imagine how they play with him … They put into his image those feelings and experiences that they themselves often lack in their family.

The animal also becomes attached to the child, showing unconditional acceptance, gives joy, fun, the ability to "command" them, fills them with positive emotions … Makes the child's world richer and more versatile, teaches him to be kinder and at the same time more responsible. Fills the child's soul with his need, in difficult life moments for him, pulling him out of the "whirlpool" of loneliness.

It is not for nothing that pet therapy is currently very popular, used as an effective method of supporting and helping people in times of emotional internal difficulties, through their interaction with specially trained animals.

For myself, I understand that, of course, pets - enrich the lives of their owners and family members as a whole, but you should not humanize them, overloading them beyond measure with qualities and "obligations" that are unusual for them from nature. This will make it easier for them to live in a family and adapt to its conditions. After all, the animal world, nevertheless, is different from the world of people …