2008/08/01 by Emma Power · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Social Sciences · Psychology · #Human-Animal Interaction Studies #Geographies of human-animal interactions #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Agency (philosophy) #Cohabitation #Gender studies #Sociology #Structure and agency #Extended family #Genogram #Social relation #Animal-assisted therapy #Nuclear family #Psychology #Social psychology #Animal welfare #Pet therapy #Social science #Anthropology #Political science
paper · doi:10.1080/14649360802217790
openalex publication_date 2008/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The last fifty years have seen dogs increasingly drawn into the home as family members. While the health and social implications of these relatings have been the focus of much research, the everyday practices by which more-than-human families are constituted have received little attention. The paper draws on interviews with, and diaries recorded by, new dog owners in 2006–2007. It highlights three ways that dogs became family in and through the home. First, describing dogs as ‘furry children’, participants emphasised the time spent caring for dogs. Second, engaging with dogs as ‘pack animals’, participants discussed an inherent ‘otherness’ that shaped family relations, and reconceptualised the human-family as a pack relation. Third, the individual agency of dogs was recognised as shaping family and home. However, these familial relatings were often tenuous as humans were faced with the particular character and ‘otherness’ of dogs. While the majority experienced a strengthening of family ties following the introduction of a dog, a number of individuals discussed the divisive impact of this experience. The paper extends debates about family and home, broadening family beyond biological relations to include more-than-human relationships forged through cohabitation and interaction.