The Family Dog: Influence of Parents on Children’s Concepts of Responsible Dog Care

Abstract

Dog ownership is often imagined as a quintessential part of a childhood. Approximately half of households in the United States and one fourth in the European Union are home to one or more dogs. The majority of the families who acquire dogs do so, at least in part, because they believe dog ownership will teach children responsibility. Yet it is the role modeling and teaching of responsibility that adults provide to children, rather than mere ownership of a dog, that shapes children’s attitudes, values, and beliefs about responsible care. Furthermore, parents’ childhood experiences with dogs, as well as the ways in which they interact with their children in caring for family dogs, influence children’s thinking. This chapter describes parents’ views of responsible dog care and ownership and explores how those perspectives might influence children’s concepts of responsible care. Findings are based on an Eastern United States mixed-methods study involving 51 children and 46 adults. Data include interviews with children between the ages of 4 and 14 and their parents’/guardians’ responses to a questionnaire that included both forced choice and open-ended items. Major sections of the survey included the value parents place on dogs, concepts and practices of responsible dog care, reasons for relinquishing a dog, their childhood experience with dogs, and their perceptions of their child’s understanding of safe behaviors around dogs.