Why do people treat their pets like they are humans?

Well that’s kind of weird.
I treat my pets like family, but I don’t let them do whatever they want. I would be annoyed if someone called me insensitive for insisting that their pet doesn’t hump my leg. As a pet owner, I would scold my pet and possibly remove them from the room if they were misbehaving or distressing a guest.

Coz those folks are a sandwich short of a picnic, you know….soft in the head like.
The ones who take it to the extreme & “baby talk” with their pets are truly scary.
“Aww, whatsamadda den little hunnybunny? Does he want his dinsy winsy den?”

Yeah. I know a guy that spent 3000 dollars on his dog surgery. Geez…I can’t even afford that type of medical care for myself. Not to mention pet insurance. Don’t even get me started on that crap.

Many people live alone & only have their pets for company so grow very fond of them, pets are naturally affectionate most of the time so I can understand some people being affectionate towards their pets to the point of talking to them like a human, what harm can it really do? :-/ I’d be more concerned if they ignored their pets & showed them no affection whatsoever, I’d worry about that myself.
:-/

I love my dog to. He is spoiled rotten by me. And I talk to him. A lot. Not that I believe he will understand it, but I am homebound cause of Crohn disease, and I do not have a lot of social interaction, so for me he is kinda like a child. That being said, you can treat your dog however you want, you still need to give him basic education. Learning how to interact with others is a big part of that, next to the basic puppy training (you know learning to sit and stuff). My dog is about 7 months now, but he knows he needs to stay on his pillow when visistors arrive. He is not allowed to jump on anyone or anything, and my visitors can come to him to pet him, but he is not allowed to leave his pillow until I say so. And that works perfect. So the dog of your friends is a very un-educated ‘child’. And you don’t have to take that. If it was a real child that was misbehaving, (running around, yelling, spilling soda and stuff like that), you would not be very happy either.

Allowing a pet to jump all over someone and hump their leg is really not treating the pet like a human since humans don’t do those things.

If that’s the scenario upon which your Q is based, a better Q might be “Why do SOME people spoil their pets ?”

Most of the time it’s because they’re too clueless or too lazy to exert themselves to properly train their pets.

And saying anything to the animal or yelling at it does no good at all since you’re only an occasional influence upon it.

It’s the people to whom you need to assert yourself and bluntly let them know how rude it is to allow their animal to act this way toward their company.

The owner is the problem. The pet takes it’s cues from them.

It’s part of their family. But I don’t approve of that behavior .. jumping everywhere or humping your leg.

My pets are part of our family. However, like other members of the family, they have to behave. Leg humping and biting or jumping on guests is just not an acceptable way to treat visitors.

I do talk to my dogs (and they talk back in dog of course) and my cat. I don’t talk in baby talk to them though. We (my family) are quite aware that they are canine and feline and not human. I don’t think the canine or feline members quite get that they aren’t human at times.

I don’t get your example as treating a pet like family. None of my family including the dog is allowed to behave like that, except when they were infants.

That’s a little extreme, since pets should not behave that way and the owner should know that. However, people often think of their pets as part of the family.

I don’t let my dogs or kids hump anybody’s leg. I think of my dogs as part of the family, but a lower part than the kids. The only people I’ve heard refer to their pets as their “children” are the ones who have never had kids.

Yeah, I’m with @Buttonstc , here, I don’t know any humans who do that.
Sounds like that’s one friend who allows their pet(s) to behave like that. I know lots of people who dote on their pets and don’t allow that. Maybe just avoid going to their house and only meet that friend elsewhere.

I went to a class reunion for my high school last weekend, which was held at a local restaurant. One of the alumni brought his cat.
This wasn’t the first time he has done that. I remember the cat being at the last big reunion as well.
I am allergic to cats, so I didn’t want to hold it or pet it, and he seemed a bit annoyed at that.
Our class has just posted a bunch of pictures from the reunion on Facebook, and the cat is in a lot more pictures than anyone else, which means, I guess, he got a lot of attention. Probably because “someone actually brought a cat to the reunion. How sad is that?”

People treat their pets consistently better than the humans in their home, talking baby talk or in voices normally reserved for young children in its cutesy tones. Everyone will talk to the pet no matter how perturbed they might be with each other. They might even use the dog as a mediator in rhe case of argument saying things like “Sparky, tell your daddy to .” Animals are consistent day upon day and always glad to see you no matter how long the wait. Pets really demonstrate unconditional love along with their accepting ways. Honestly I would love to have the winsomeness that goes along with four legs even if butt licking was part of it!

Our pets are part of our family, but I don’t call them my babies or my children, because they aren’t. I don’t buy them birthday presents or Christmas presents because they don’t know what those special days are. I give them treats when they behave. don’t get me started on Halloween costumes for pets…..Do you really think your puppy wants to look like Tinkerbell? poor thing.

I sometimes put a bandanna on Zuppy because I have the misguided impression that it will make him look cool and he’ll chill out a bit. It never works. Go figure.

bandannas are different. those do look cool. didn’t you get the memo? ;)

I never get the memos. I’m not on the list. :(

I’m not really sure why people let their pets do that. But I can tell you that I’m sick and tired of my cousin humping my leg all the time. It’s beginning to chafe.

@jonsblond—Tinkerbell really??? :s

Well there are (little) dogs that do need a shirt or something like that against the cold, Me I would never dress up my pooch, but that is personal matter, and I certenly would not take him to a reunion or force allergic people to be around him. If people wanna dress up their dog, talk babytalk against them or stuff like that, no probs with me. This discussion is about the behaviour of the dog, not of the human :). It is about education and politeness.

My pets are treated like my children, my well mannered children. They do not jump, hump, clime, beg, or interrupt.

1. I don’t treat my pets as human, I treat them better than people, because they love me unconditionally.

2. My dogs do not jump up on anyone including me.

3. They do tend to kiss people.

4. They do not hump anyone’s leg.

5, My dogs do not bite.

Do not generalize about pet owners. You have inconsiderate friends. Meet them elsewhere.

There is loving and being very attached to your pets as I am, and then there is neurotically nuts. As always it is about balance.

I am 10,000% “invested” on a deep emotional level with my pets, but I am also pretty damn neurosis free. haha

I am considerate of others when around my animals, and I don’t allow my chinese gander “Marwyn” to goose my friends while standing by saying ” Awww, isn’t that CUTE!”
However, when I am alone with my pets we have all sorts of silliness that is privy to just our little gang. haha

My pets tend to make friends faster than I do. That’s my pet generalization or the day.

Just a few moments ago, our UPS man came to the door. He knows all of our dogs names, and purposely waits at the door utnil he can pet and talk to each one of them. None of my dogs jump on him. Each one waits for their pat on the head, then they all go back to napping.

Dogs love unconditionally because it keeps them out of the stew pot. I say to my friend, “You need to get rid of that dog man.” He says, “That’s no diferent than me asking you to get rid of your son.” I’m sorry, but I think that is very different.

I like dogs better than kids.

Because they don’t have any humans to treat like pets? I’ve heard people say they like their pets better than most humans. I think it’s because the pets don’t require much in return. Pets can be trained to behave in a way acceptable to their owners. People, for the most part, can’t.
Pets can’t even talk back.

@atch – Why not say, “You need to train that dog, man” instead of getting rid of it. And if he won’t, then make every effort to not go to his house.

When and if your friends have children, you can bet their children will be the screaming, unruly, demanding spoiled brats that everyone complains about. This doesn’t have as much to do with how they treat their pets as how lazy they are.

It’s their house. Their rules. You always have the option of not going there.

BTW…you didn’t seem to single out just one friend…do all of your friends have ill mannered dogs?

If you go to someone’s house and their pets “jump all over me, slobber, bite, and hump my leg” the pets aren’t being treated like people, they are being treated like out of control, undisciplined children; like spoiled brats. There’s a difference, I think.

I just humped the leg of my daughters’ gymnastics coach. I got a free dinner.

@WillWorkForChocolate O.K. I’ll bite. I’m guessing either your daughter’s gymnastics coach is your spouse or SO, you said that because you have some kind of Tourette’s Syndrome or the incident involved some kind of way wacky fund raising event or raffle for your daughter’s gym where people buy a ticket for a dollar, they get to hump the coach and then the coach pulls a ticket out of a bucket at the end and somebody wins the free dinner. Any of those even close? :-)

@lillycoyote Not even remotely close. ;)

@WillWorkForChocolate LOL. Well, those were my three best guesses; all I had, but I gave it a shot.

@atch, how big are these dogs anyway?

I like my cat just as much – if not more – than I like 99% of the people I know. So why not?

What you described doesn’t sound like an issue with someone treating their pet as a human, but with someone not being a good host/disrespecting you. There’s a difference.

Um…I don’t think it’s so much a question @martianspringtime of being a “good host” or “disrespecting” the OP. It’s not a personal thing…unless their friends have taught the dogs to act like raving idiots only to the OP. It’s a question of the pet owners being lousy pet owners.

I have three little dogs (Yorkie, Yorkie mix, Shitzu/Poo) and three little cats and love them dearly but, when I have human visitors I bring my dogs over to say hello and then they go off to the bedroom with their special beds, radio on and toys to play with. Little dogs are not great with young children and as much as I love them, my friends and families needs are of importance to me. The young lady who lets them hump and climb on you can see how uncomfortable you are and should take care of your needs. Say something to her, not to the animals, like, “Can you please put the dog/dogs in another room while I’m visiting with you. They make me feel so uncomfortable.” IMHO, a caring hostess would respond. If not…......