Are You Raising a Furkid?
- Posted by: Mark Peters
- on October 31, 2009 at 8:00 am
Confusing parenthood and pet ownership: The words of the dog world.
Kids chase fewer squirrels and postal workers than dogs, but the way we pamper our poodles and great danes and mutts has a lot in common with how we treat our toddlers and teens.
Though I try not to over-kid-ify my canine, the bounds of sane dog owner behavior are blurry. I frequently arrange playdates for my rat terrier Monkey, and, I hate to admit, once shoved him into a Dracula costume and took him to a dog party, which included dog cake, dog champagne, and a doggie masseuse (who terrified my pooch—I think Monkey considered her a type of vet). So far, I’ve resisted the call of doga—dog yoga—but who knows what the future will bring?
The pet-as-child mindset is hard to avoid: confusing pet ownership and parenthood is a pervasive aspect of the pet world that’s reflected in money spent, canine behavioral therapists hired, and terms coined, such as “bark mitzvah,” “puppy leave,” and “furkid.” These are just a few lexical symptoms of the weird and intense relationship we have with our dogs.
(FYI: Some of these terms apply to cats too, but since felines have a Darth Vader-like influence on my allergy-prone respiratory system, I keep my distance. I suspect cat people have been traveling a parallel road).
One way the child-ification of dogs can be seen is the importation of parenting lingo like “playdate” and “potty training,” which are often and casually used. In other cases, new words are coined. Paul McFedries’ The Word Spy records several parent-y pet terms, such as “latchkey dog” (a dog left unmonitored in the streets or at home alone), “pupperware” (dog toys, clothes, and other paraphernalia sold at tupperware-like parties), and “puppy leave” (much like baby leave, but with a barkier infant).
Plenty of others turn up on Grant Barrett’s Double Tongued Dictionary, such as “pawsenger” (a dog on a plane), “pawspice” (canine hospice), and “puppy pawty,” which is similar to a “bark mitzvah”—a dog celebration observed with varying degrees of seriousness, sometimes at the dog’s thirteenth year.
A lot of dog lingo is euphemistic yet not especially goofy. Playful puppy biting is “nipping,” the cage used to train puppies is a “crate,” and peeing from excitement is “sprinkling.” Other euphemisms are much sillier. While I sympathize with pitbull owners who want to change the image of their dogs, I don’t know if “petbull” is going to fool anyone. Similarly, if “mutt” is hurting your dog’s self-esteem, the terms “canine cocktail,” “party pup,” and “unbreed” are available, though not recommended, at least by me. You’d think “mutt” would have been elevated forever after President Obama said, in regards to needing a hypoallergenic dog breed, “…our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but obviously a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me.”
The king of canine euphemisms—as well as the most clear example of pet/kid confusion—has to be the word “furkid,” which appeals to folks who don’t like the word “pet,” and think “companion animal” doesn’t go far enough. Before starting this article, I hoped that “furkid” was a linguistic urban myth, but many use this word unselfconsciously and frequently. Recent tweets include mentions of “My baby furkid Toto” and “the joys of furkid parenthood,” as well as the admonition that there “…should be no fighting in front of the furkid.” There are also related terms such as “furbaby” and “furparent,” not to mention “humom” (a human mom with pets).
Why such forced, artificial, barf-worthy language? Well, for many pet owners, no amount of cutesiness is too much. The cuteness-craving impulse animating “purp” (a word that alters “pup” much as “lurve” modifies “love”) probably has something to do with the existence of “furkid” too.
But no matter how goofy or pretentious some of these terms seem, they’re inspired by a love for canines. Maybe that love gets a little out of hand—no dog really wants to be an Ewok for Halloween, no matter how perfect he looks—but “Must Love Dogs” is a way of life as well as a movie for many of us.
Odd words are just a harmless byproduct.
DISCUSSION: 32 Comments
OMG Snickers. You are famous. Must love dogs is a way of life.
Haha, I’m a dog owner but glad to find out I don’t know most of the words you mentioned!..
Our dog (who is, in fact, pictured above) likes running complex routes through our apartment, banking off couches, going between table legs, and balancing on the arms of chairs. My girlfriend has taken to calling this “dogkour” (parkour for dogs.)
Will, dogkour is a funny word though!!
Well, we have four dogs at home, and we treat them like children (one girl and three boys). They tend to demand our attention like crazy. All of them are related, except Jack who we rescued a year ago just before Thanksgiving. So there … we seem to have four furkids, and zero regrets!
Ah yes cat owners to follow a parallel life. Our 3 cats are out furkids and we admit it freely. Other people have pictures of their human kids and then us furparents have, well, pics of our furkids. Our newest addition (6 months old) has been trained ,by my wife, to have this suuden sixth sense when you even THINK about food to plop down beside you and do everything but say please to get whatever it is you’re having. And, dear God, NEVER EVER EVER leave your ham sandwich unguarded. You may come back to two slices of bread and only condiments ahe doesn’t like.
I worked at Petsmart for a good 4 years. Customers where always refered to as ‘Pet parents’- not customers, not clientelle- Pet Parents. Serious meetings with staff where held using ‘Pet Parent’ in all seriousness.It was a soulless, heartless corporation who seemed to try and make light of how crazy some of the customers where.
I volunteer for a local animal shelter and see the worst of what people do to dogs. I’ve raised two shelter dogs from pups, and adopted another at 3 years old. They’re wonderful, but, alas, not purebreds. So what. They’ve had a tough start, so I spoil them to a point – yet they’re well-behaved. When folks say to me, “Oh, you have dogs? What pedigree are they?” I tell them, “They’re Hu-mutts.” They’re too old and dignified to be “furkids.”
Honestly, I’ve got coworkers with furkids, and I really don’t get it. I mean, I’ve loved all my pets, but I just can’t fathom the extremes of mushiness to which some people can ascend when dealing with their animals.
I agree we all have furkids. We have 7 Feline Furkids and feed every feline child that comes to our Door my friends reffer to us as local kitchen since we spend more money on PET food than human. We also love canines but we only have one since Dog fur gives me allergies.
I have a female dog that gets treated way to much like a child! When people ask my mom if she has grandkids she tells them she has a Granddogger!
All of my Kids have paws and Fur!!!!!! They get the best of everything and all More Love and attention than Most Human Kids do!!!!!! I would Fur Kids anyway, they Love You unconditionally!!!!!!!!!!! I have nothing but respect for animals!!!!!!!!! I am always there for them! It sucks that not everyone feels the same!
For people like me, if you don’t have children you tend gush over your pets and make them your kids. Even my mother has taken to calling my dogs her granddogs or grandpuppies. My cat is her grandkitty.
You forgot a term. Granddog. As well as grandcat and grandpets. This is how my children are referred to by my parents. THEY call them that, buy them Christmas gifts, and share photos of them along with photos of my nieces to their friends. On a recent trip they even bought special homemade dog treats as a souvenoir for my dog. I do think of my dog and two cats as my children because really, they ARE my kids! I don’t HAVE any human children. I also am a vegetarian and consequently love animals a great deal. I think the more you spoil your pets, the more personality they are and the funnier they become.
WE HAVE 2 FURKIDS TC AND DOZER.TC IS A SHITZU AND DOZER BECAUSE HE SLEPT ALOT WHEN WE GOT HIM IS A JACK RUSSELL TERRIER /CHIWAUWAU MIXED.THEY GIVE US UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AN ARE ALWAYS WELL BEHAVE ,EXCEPT WHEN DOZER GOES INTO HIS PLAYING MODE,THEN THERES NO STOPPING HIM,UNTIL HE WEARS HIMSELF OUT .I WISH I HAD HIS ENERGY
I wonder how many of you that have “furkids” have real kids. Before my wife and I had my daughter we had (still do) a dog and a cat. We love them both, but there is no way that you can compare an animal and a child. People that spend this much money and time on their dogs should seriously rethink their priorities and perhaps donate time and or money spend on an animal on a charity. You can adore your pets and give them a great life without dressing them in costumes, they won’t know the difference.
Kids vs dogs? How silly. One is not a substitute for the other. There’s no need to choose children over dogs, or dogs over children. They’re not the same. As long as children and dogs are taken care of with compassion, love and humor… yay kids! yay dogs! yay furkids! More love is better than less love.
Yes, I have three grown children. All of which I would gladly give my life for. Having been a stay at home mom, In alot of ways, I already have. I also have a wonderfrul golden retriever. He is my :”late in life child”. He is pampered, and petted and loved beyond question. As were my children. However, he will never:Require countless trips for sports practiceAsk for a cell phoneNeed to be put thru college (all three of mine did)Drive a car (and all the headaches that produces)Have a wild partyI never have to explain his behavior to school authoritiesShould he have had a child, it would have been perfectly acceptable to sell/give it away (he is fixed) Should I desire an overnight trip, I can put him in the puppy resortI can cable him in the front yard and no one complains of abuseHe NEVER asks WHY?He is ALWAYS happy to see meHe is nothing but JOY in our lives.If we are not careful our wonderful cat(?) will sit in his food bowl, and he will try to eat around her.,
I have two Yorkies, brothers from the same litter. They will soon be six years old and they are my furkids. When I am home it’s like having human kids around. They fight, they play, they sleep, they eat, they get baths every week, they are litter box trained and have their own room. When they fight, I send them to the couch and they sit there until I tell them to get up. When they get under my feet, I tell them to go play. They have different personalities so I deal with them differently just like you would human kids. They love to be carried like you would a litttle kid with their butts on my arm and their front paws on my shoulder. When they want my attention and I don’t give it to them they cry. They are very smart and very very spoiled. I wouldn’t have any other way and don’t care what anyone else thinks.
I have two LIVE daughters and one furry child…the son we never had, a 7 year old golden retriever (who still thinks he is a puppy). My daughters have always called him their little brother and have treated him better than I have seen some people be treated. Now that both of the girls are in college and only come home for visits, my third child has been more demanding of our time. I love my girls to death but I would never trade in my other baby for anything. He has made it easier to deal with both of my kids leaving the house. Once you have a dog around the house it is very hard not to fall in love.
Yes I am! Two in fact (boxers)! My two furkids behave better than some human kids!
Hmmmm, let me see, how about we take a look at the parents of “human” kids. In fact, my 3 older sisters will do. The oldest one, divorced, and idol worships her ex-husband – whom by the way, tried to ”kill” her and her 2 daughters. And then we have the second oldest, who is also divorced. She has a history of being a psychodrama queen, and her son and daughter are basically caretakers. Then we have the middle sister, who hides from the rest of the family, which goes to show you she isn’t totally “whacked.” But yet, she is anorexic and don’t think anything is wrong with it. She has two daughters. Tell me something – why is there such a fuss over “furparents” when the parents of human kids are WAY more “whacked!”
First off, thanks for letting me log into your new login. I had a lot of trouble the day before. Now about the Fur Kid, I grew up with two dogs. I love dogs. I can see how people get very attached to their animals. The animals do have a little soul in them. They feel, think and respond to you. And they are very loyal. I had this dog in particular who was a mixed breed collie/shepherd. We used to converse back and forth. I would speak to her in English and she would reply back to me in dog speak. My dog named Chakkahn would move her lower jaw when replying to me but a long whine would come out. I know that we were really having a conversation. However, there is only so much an animal can understand. You couldn’t talk to your animal the way you could another person. When you live with your animal under your roof, just like a child, you get to know one another. You do have to have a very close relationship with your animal to get to the point of being able to converse with her/him back and forth. It’s very limited what the animal can understand. It’s for real and a lot of other owners of pets will vouch for it as well. There have been studies done to prove this. I am aware of research being done in this area of expertise because I have seen it documented on the Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS) on TV. In the area where I live the PBS station is WETA TV 26. Since in reality I had experienced having actual conversations with my animal, it is very easy to conceive of your animal as a Fur Kid. Both my dogs would listen to me when I told them to do something. Or as in the case of Chakkahn, she would calm down when I talked to her and explaining something with a soothing tone of voice. Maybe, it was the combination of the words and the soothing tone that I got the desired result from my animal. Also, if you really want to know what is going on? The animal doesn’t interpret the words but the pitches and tone in your voice. That is the way I was able to interpret the whines in my dog. It is a series of pitches that is in a long whine how you know that your animal is talking to you. As a matter of fact, my dog Chakkahn never barked. I don’t think she could. When she talked she talked in a long whine. She was also able to pick up on my facial expressions as well. Yes, it’s for real. A dog is a FUR KID.
Hummmm……..Furkids…heck, I’ve always freely admitted my animals were my kids…no one else would claim them. The one pictured for my log in is, was, Otter Boy. He was my runt that ended up being 130lbs. He passed last October from diabeties, I kept him alive on insulin for 9 months. This pic was taken shortly before he died; I miss him) His father, Pee Wee(not after Herman; PeeWeeDog, PeeWee for short, just had to pee at least 5x’s before he was ready to come back in, and trust me he wasn’t just marking his spot) lasted a 1 1/2yrs on insulin before he passed on. I still have his two sisters, She Woof, because she does,and Tatonka (which I use as my log in name; Tonka for short.) I also ended up adopting a male yellow & white cat, who we named Two, Howard II, but Two for short. Even though he weighs 28lbs+(havent weighed him recently) and does not fit in his full size recliner, he has to curl or rest his head over the arm. YES….he has his own chair !!! Over the years I have had some incredable animals, none of which could ever be replaced, just added to, they all carve a place in your heart.
I don’t call my dog a ‘furkid,’ but my husband and I consider ourselves his parents, and he is treated like a member of the pack. He is very happy and well behaved. We don’t anthropomorphize him, though – we know he is a dog!I tried and was unable to have kids… if I was able to, maybe my dog would then be my beloved, spoiled pet and we would be his owners, but as a childless couple, we’ll take being dog parents!!Oh, and if people choose to call their pets furkids and it makes them happy, what’s the harm in it ???