Birth rates are declining worldwide, while dog parenting practices are gaining popularity. What does this growing "furry children" trend reveal about our societies? Researchers from Eötvös Loránd University suggest that, while dogs do not actually replace children, they may, in some cases, offer an opportunity to fulfil a nurturing drive similar to parenting, but with fewer demands than raising biological offspring. Their review, published in European Psychologist, also examines how the shifting roles of dogs within modern family structures are influenced by individual circumstances, but also by cultural norms.
Many wealthy and developed countries—including much of Europe, North America, and East Asia—are now experiencing sub-replacement fertility, meaning people are having fewer children than needed to maintain the population over time. In contrast, dog ownership has gained popularity over the last decades. In most European countries, a quarter to half of households own at least one dog, often regarded as a family member or even a furry baby.
Does it mean that people choose to have dogs in place of children?
Researchers from the Department of Ethology at ELTE Eötvös Loránd University conducted a comprehensive review of the literature in an attempt to answer this question. One of their core ideas posits that, for some people, dogs may represent a fulfilling compromise, satisfying a genetically-embedded drive to nurture and form social bonds without investing the substantial resources necessary to raise biological offspring. In other words, dogs kept as pets offer the opportunity to form a close emotional connection with a dependent being, providing positive emotions, social support, and even a sense of purpose – outcomes that, to some extent, resemble those experienced by parents – while being easier to control and care for than a child.
But why would dogs be good candidates to fill child-like roles in the lives of humans?
First, their cognitive abilities and adaptability to human communication enable them to exhibit a wide range of social behaviours, often comparable to those of pre-verbal children. Additionally, some dogs, particularly those exhibiting extreme infantile traits (e.g., small brachycephalic breeds such as pugs and French bulldogs), may look as helpless, harmless and innocent as small children. Another parallel between companion dogs and young children is their evident dependency on their caregivers. Most dogs kept in human families cannot decide what to eat, where and when to go for a walk, or with whom to interact. For this reason, owners are responsible for providing appropriate care to them, and in many countries, legal frameworks have been created to protect the rights of both animals and children.
« Despite the high dependency and attachment of dogs to their caregivers, in the eyes of many, commitments coming with dog ownership remain less burdensome than child parenting », explains Laura Gillet, PhD student at the Department of Ethology. « Among many factors, the relatively short lifespan of dogs might contribute to it, as most people expect to outlive their dog, but not their child ». Moreover, previous studies have shown that in many Western, traditionally Christian-influenced societies, animal lives remain less valued than human lives. Therefore, not only individual decisions, but also sociocultural context are crucial to understanding how and why people develop certain types of relationships with their animals.
« We would like to point out that, contrary to popular belief, only a small minority of dog owners actually treat their pets like human children. In most cases, dog parents choose dogs precisely because they are not like children, and they acknowledge their species-specific needs », adds Eniko Kubinyi, head of the MTA-ELTE 'Momentum' Companion Animals Research Group, senior author of the review. Still, a dog's wants and needs don't always align with what their owners expect or desire. This is a crucial point when it comes to animal welfare. Treating dogs as child substitutes and seeking extreme infantile traits in them raises several ethical concerns, such as the mass breeding of certain unhealthy breeds or overprotective caring behaviours that may lead to emotional and behavioural problems in the dog.
In conclusion, dog keeping practices, including dog parenting, take many forms, all of which depend on a given sociocultural context and individual circumstances, and can change throughout the lifespan of a person. For instance, the dog can serve as a "pre-child" of a young, childless couple, and later become a furry sibling to their firstborn. The authors of the study also propose alternative ways of thinking about the dog-human bond, blending the characteristics of different human relationships – not only the child-parent relationship, but also friendship and partnership - resulting in a unique bond with its own dynamics. Moreover, the
shifting roles that companion animals, including dogs, play in human lives are redefining the concept of family and definitely call into question our modern lifestyles, marked by increasing loneliness and a weakening of social and community ties.
Funding: This study was supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences via a grant to the MTA-ELTE 'Lendület/Momentum' Companion Animal Research Group (grant no. PH1404/21), the National Brain Programme 3.0 (NAP2022-I-3/2022), and the DKOP-23 Doctoral Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.
Article original: Gillet, L., Kubinyi, E. (2025). Redefining Parenting and Family - The Child-Like Role of Dogs in Western Societies. European Psychologist. DOI: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000552
