Impact of lifestyle, cultures and environment on pet ownership

Choosing a pet can depend a lot on your personal circumstances.

Do you live in a small city apartment? Do you live on a large property? Do you live in an outback community? Do you live in a suburban street? Are you part of a large family? Do you live alone?

Our lifestyles, cultures and environment not only have an effect on the type of pets we choose, but also on the way they live, their quality of life and how they are viewed and treated by the community we live in.

Lifestyle

The way we live and the amount of time we spend at home have a big effect on our pets.

Some pets are happy to be left alone for most of the day, but others crave attention and company.

It is important to consider this when choosing your new pet.

Certain pets react well around large families and don’t mind noise or regular activity.

Others may be frightened or intimidated by loud noise and prefer a quieter environment.

Pets are just as important for those who live alone, providing companionship and promoting conversation with people in the street and at the park.

For some, particularly the elderly who live alone, taking a dog out with them might promote the only social contact they have for an entire day.

Most elderly people have very close associations with their pets. Yet the prospect of changing accommodation, whether to a smaller dwelling or flat or to a retirement or nursing home is a disincentive for them to own pets.

It is also conceivable that elderly people may put off moving because they think their pet would not be suitable or allowed in more compact or group-style accommodation.

Whether a pet is suited to a household also depends on what the owner is looking for in a pet (e.g. security, mellowness with children, etc.)

Cultures

As much as we enjoy the company of our special pet friends and consider them to be an integral part of the family, attitudes in other countries and cultures can be quite different.

In some cultures pets, especially dogs are not viewed as companions, but as another source of meat.

Other cultures will not tolerate dogs or cats as pets at all. They believe that animals are ‘unclean’ and should be kept outside, if they are to be kept at all.

In some ancient cultures, they value animals above human beings. In India for example, the cow is sacred.

In Indigenous communities dogs are an important part of life, but they are looked at quite differently to the way we consider our pets.

For some people in Arnhem Land, the dog is a representation of the actual Creator himself.

However, for most people the dog is just a good friend. Dogs are seen as protectors. There are many different levels of affection that people have for dogs and the importance and role of dogs vary between Indigenous peoples.

They are used for warmth in the winter and over time have provided protection and companionship, minded children and were used as hunters.

Dogs often live with Indigenous people, sharing beds and food and have close contact with children.

Dogs found in Indigenous communities are divided in to four categories:

Domesticated dogs

• Have an owner who takes good care of their dog
• Are easy to handle and treat
• Are usually in the minority

Camp Dogs

• Have an owner and live and move around with the owner and their family
• Are usually unfriendly when handled and timid when approached
• Tend to be easier to treat with oral medications than injections
• Are the largest group of dogs in the community

Fringe camp dogs

• Appear to have no owner and no home
• Scavenge food
• Fight with other dogs
• Are very timid and can’t be handled or treated for health problems

Dingoes and wild dogs

• Live in the bush
• Scavenge for food at camp sites
• Mate with community dogs, resulting in many crossbreeds

For information on the RSPCA’s Indigenous dogs program, click here

Environment

The environment in which we live in has a huge impact on pet ownership.

A pet’s physical environment includes both the owner’s premises and the wider neighbourhood.

Smaller homes and backyards tend to discourage people from owning pets.

They also place greater demands on scarce public open space.

Some of the problems caused by pets, such as excessive barking, are felt more strongly in an urban built-up area.

Home aspects of the owner’s premises that affect pets include:

• Housing type
• Housing and grounds design
• Private open space and landscaping
• Fences
• Restraint of cats
• Windows
• Garages, carports, and car spaces
• Internal light courts
• Dog and cat doors
• Disposal of excrement
• Other design features such as internal flooring and bedding

As housing density increases, so too, does the need to pay attention to breed choice, training, environmental enrichment, and other design features.

The wider neighbourhood includes walking in the street and visits to the park and other public areas. It is important mostly to dogs.

Opportunities for visiting parks depend on the number of parks available, their accessibility and restrictions imposed on access by dogs.

For owners to be able to exercise their dogs regularly, access is needed to public areas such as parks within an easy walking distance from home.

Another reason why people obtain a dog is for security. Housebreakers will tend to steer clear of houses with dogs.

People also tend to feel safer with a dog in the house and when they are walking or jogging in the street.

Problems also vary geographically. For instance, in an inner city or urban areas pet problems are more likely to be associated with effects on neighbours than conflicts with other land uses, such as adjacent farming areas.

In outer areas where densities are lower and there are farms nearby, the reverse is likely to be the case.

While it is wrong to assume a certain pet, owner or environment will cause certain behaviours, each will have the capacity to increase or decrease certain types of behaviour

Dogs probably enjoy the closest relationship with man of any pet and because of this, they are more demanding of our time and attention.

They are social creatures that seek out social interaction and affection. They are best suited to homes which have some private open space, although many are able to be kept successfully in flats and apartments.

Cats are generally asocial creatures and are usually more adaptable than dogs to being left on their own for long periods. However, because they are asocial they do not develop the same dominant-subordinate relationships with humans or other animals as dogs.

Cats are usually better suited to more compact accommodation than dogs since they will readily use a litter tray and do not need as much access to the outdoors.