The humanization of pets

The phrase "humanization of pets" originated with the American pet supply industry. It describes the phenomenon of today that finds the status of pets elevated to the level of full family member.

The phenomenon transmits almost all the same rights and privileges enjoyed by the human members of the family. In commercial publications, the phrase used to be enclosed in quotes. Now it is a part of the industry lexicon.

As a representative of a high-end comprehensive pet food company, I spend 30 hours a week at several pet supply stores talking with pet owners about diets, feeding protocols and behavior and, of course, trying that they buy our food.

A chorus that I hear often is, "Oh, I've tried a lot of those expensive foods and the dog has ..." followed by a litany of evils.

Especially from other baby boomers, who continue with; "When I was a kid, we never had any of this, we fed our dogs with canned horse meat and pieces of table and they were as healthy as they can ... shiny coat, white teeth, blah, blah, blah."

And just in case, they say: "... and they lived until they were 20."

Nonsense. I was there. Growing up in the suburbs of Boston in the 1950s, our dogs stank, stank, their teeth were terribly discolored, they scratched incessantly and lived outside.

They slept on or under the back porch and if it rained and you did not have a dog house, they had to enter, but they kept them in the basement. "Bring him to the vet? For what? He was not hit by a car."

They only saw a veterinarian once a year ... during the annual city-sponsored rabies clinic at the fire station. And they rarely reached adolescence.

Fast forward to today. Many dog owners are feeding foods that cost more than $ 50 per bag. They are spoiling their puppies with toys, sweets, hugs and hugs.

They are taken to see the veterinarian at least once a year for a check-up; Take them to the dog daycare center, to the dog park, and with them on vacation.

Money is not an objective, although it seems anyway, since we lavish luxuries and luxury items on our pets.

They do not stink, their breath is usually "sweet kisses", they are in better health from the hair to the teeth, and they sleep in our beds with us.

So, what caused this change? what the pet supply industry has called "the humanization of pets"?

An Internet search on the subject reveals a lot about the economy of the phenomenon; how the parents of pet lovers have bottomless bags and wallets when it comes to furskin kids.

We also see how smart business owners can approach that salsa train (no pun). Commercial publications abound in new ways of exploiting the phenomenon.

But it will be hard to find something about how it happened suddenly.

I have a simple theory. Strap laws.

Before the arrival of the laws of the leash, the dogs that moved freely were a nuisance. They snatched the landscape with their waste, entered our private property and terrorized our children.

They shouted and fought each other, scattered our garbage all over the neighborhood on the day of the sidewalk pickup and, in general, considered themselves problematic.

As housing developments flourished and tight neighborhoods emerged, magnifying the scourge of stray dogs, zoning ordinances changed and some communities enacted "belt laws."

These laws require that owners have complete control of their dogs at all times and also prohibits them from roaming dogs.

Animal control officers, known then as dog catchers, would imprison stray dogs in shelters, known then as hot dogs, and the owners would pay the ransom for them to be released from the big house. But essentially it worked. There was peace in all the earth.

And the fever of the belt law spread throughout the United States, so, now, only some rural communities still do not have belt laws on the books.

Therefore, by being forced into a closer and personal relationship with their dogs, the owners rushed to address body odor, bad breath and education problems. And love happened.

We cry openly for the loss of a pet, where previously we suppressed such emotions for fear that the eyes of society rolled over us.

We love being with our pets so much that we take them everywhere with us. The window of management generally produces a pleasure for the dog.

In some restaurants in Europe, dogs are welcome to join their owners, although the United States has not yet arrived there.

But, through legislation, we have taken airlines to a higher level by transporting our pets. States have written humanitarian laws that protect animals and have created harsher penalties for cruelty to animals.

With pet owners demonstrating their willingness to pay more for better quality, we have seen improvements in everything from pet food to veterinary care.

The most prosperous communities do not have pet supplies stores; They have pet boutiques where you can pay over $ 2,000 for a Gucci pet carrier.

In 2016, Americans spent $ 62.75 billion on pets, and the American Pet Products Association expects that number to increase annually, as it has since they began keeping those statistics in 1994. Back then, spending amounted to $ 17 billion.

Is it any wonder then that manufacturers feel emboldened to greater heights in the offers of pet products?

In my opinion, the long arm of the law, the law of the belt, that is, marked the beginning of a cultural revolution that continues to evolve, for the approval of almost everyone.