Do you refer to yourself as your dog's mom or dad? Does your dog sleep in your bed?

Generational Shifts: Evolving Attitudes Towards Pets Through Family Memories

Shirley (left) with Janette (right) in front of Shirley’s home in Mitchell, S.D. I’m not sure who owned this dog.

This weekend, I attended the memorial service for my mother's cousin, Shirley. My manuscript's central character, my mother, shared a unique bond with her cousins. I asked one of Shirley's daughters if she had any photos of my mother that I didn't have. She kindly handed me a box of duplicates, suggesting I take whichever I wanted.

Among the photos, I found one featuring Janette and Shirley, taken in the 1940s, standing in front of Shirley's Mitchell, S.D. home. In the image, my mother is holding a dog, presumably a Boston terrier. Janette's family had three Boston terriers: Heidi, named after the protagonist in the book of the same name;" Tiny because he was the runt of Heid's litter; and their last dog, Dodger, named in honor of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. Russell, Janette's father, loved to listen to baseball on the radio. Deciding the name of a family pet after the winning baseball team created a fun way to get the whole family invested in the winner of a game. 

Boston terriers gained popularity during the 1930s, partly due to their small size. During the Great Depression, many families lost their farms and moved into the city. Boston terriers were about the right size to fit into a house or a car when many relocated from farms to urban areas.

I shared the photo on a Facebook group dedicated to extended family members of both Shirley's and Janette's great-grandparents. I asked whether the dog belonged to Shirley or Janette. One cousin remarked that Shirley's parents believed animals belonged on farms, not in homes, so he doubted this would have been Shirley's pet. This observation prompted me to reflect on how attitudes towards pets have changed over the past few generations.

When I was growing up, Janette especially liked dogs and dogs liked her. And I heard that all the dogs in the little town of Avoca knew and liked Russell, Janette's father.

But as I tell these stories about how much Russell and Janette liked dogs, they don't see like anything special considering how many people feel about pets today.

When I was growing up, Janette, my mom, still partly had a farmer’s attitude. She did not like dogs in our beds or on the furniture and was hesitant about spending extravagantly on veterinary care. These attitudes influenced me during my younger years; though we like dogs, she and I maintained a farmer-like perspective on pets.

An incident when I was babysitting a couple of children shows that I had this mindset as a young woman. I reprimanded the dogs for being on the couch, and the children defended the dogs' right to be there.

And today, my dog sits on the couch or the lazy boy with me and sleeps in my bed.

In a writing group, a member questioned whether Russell truly harbored affection for dogs, citing his decision to have Heidi euthanized, likely by shooting, as evidence.

Such actions were characteristic of the era when people viewed pets as distinct from humans. Now, owners consider themselves their pets moms or dads.