Are you your dog's mom/dad?

[wolfie]

I don't consider myself to be Daphne's 'mom.' I think it's kind of weird, no offence, when people call themselves their dog's mom/dad. :/

Daphne's more of my friend than my child... I mean I do care about her and take care of her, but... I don't know. What's your opinion? :)

Oh, and again, I'm not trying to offend anyone. :) Just want to know what you think.

[trayi52]

Lets see now, I have 3 human children, and 4 grandchildren. Yes, I call my self mommy or mama to my kitties, my dogs and of course to Mario. Like come to mommy, or mommy loves you. Thats just the way I feel about them. I don't know whether it is because I have children, or what.

But yes I feel like I am their mommy!

Willie

[Kfamr]

I don't think it's weird. I'm all of the above. A friend, a mom, a slave, an owner.

You could be a mother or a father to a snail. An octopus. A monkey.

moth·er1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mthr)
n.

2. A female parent of an animal.

Simba's; my love, my life, my angel, my heart; everything you could ever want in a friend times ten. Greater than a friend.


Nala's like my little baby. She makes me laugh. My comedian.

[Fox-Gal]

I'm Mom and they are my best friends thats what a family is and we are a family. We are just not a typical family. :D

[aly]

I consider myself mom to all my babies !!! I'm not embarrassed about it at all. Sure, I may look silly talking to them in the pet store like they are little kids, but its fun and they make me happy :)

[trayi52]

Aly, I do that all the time! My husband really looks at weird especially when I say something about "Go to daddy", he give me this look of ' you are one crazy woman', I call myself Mama to all my babies, Charlie the cockatiel, who always answers with kisses. It doesn't embarass me in the least! I don't care what people think of how I act with my pets. I love them, they fill my heart with so much love.

Willie

[CathyBogart]

I am my dogs' friend. :) I don't think anyone here would be offended by anthropomorphizing our pets. :) I do it all the time.

[joycenalex]

my freinds are alexs' aunts & uncles, so i guess this makes me his hu-mom, but today, i feel more slave ;) .

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Andrew and I are Drake's mom and dad. Our parents are his grandparents and our siblings are his aunts and uncles! I don't care if anyone finds it silly. We are just fine with it :D

[Aspen and Misty]

YUP! I see a strong family resemblence when looking at me and Nova :D When people at school say "Omg, I found out last night that Ashley has like 3 kids!" Of course, they were just joking, but I would always say "No, I have 9 want me to name them?" and they would always say yes and so I would say. Hope, Brook Tundra, Misty, Peaches (always them first cause they are my "less" known pets.), Julian, Jaxom, Nova and Breeze! LOL, they always roll there eyes and walk away. :rolleyes:

When petting Nova I'll always go "Do you love your mommie, cause mommie loves you." LOL, sounds corney, I know! :D

Ashley, Mom to 9

[RobiLee]

I agree with Kay Ann. I am all of the above! I do call myself "mommy" so I voted for that one. I also refer to Alden as "daddy" but sometimes he rolls his eyes at me...just teasingly though. After all she is her daddy's little girl! I also call my parents her grandma and grandpa. Once Katie was trying to get my mom to play ball and my mom wasn't paying attention so my dad said, "Carolyn, pay attention to your granddaughter!" Hehehe...I loved it! Oh, and my son is big brother! When Brandon comes home I always say, "Its Brandon, its big brother". She runs to greet him and they give hugs and Brandon always talks baby talk to her. Its just too cute! Yes, we are one big happy family!

Robin :)

[4 Dog Mother]

I am Mommy to my dogs, Grandma to each of my daughter's 3 dogs (making me grandma to 6 furbabies.) The girls say they are aunts to each other dogs. But it is just too weird to say that my dogs are aunts and uncles to their dogs so they usually say they are cousins. And Carl is their daddy. And now that he is living in Florida he misses his babies more than he misses his wife.

I don't think it is just because I am a mom to three that makes me feel this way. We had two dogs before we had the kids and we were mommy and daddy to them too. And Amy and Christy and their spouses have no problem being mommy and daddy to their fur-kids. Christy has her first child now (can you believe it, Jasmine is 6 weeks old now and I know she doesn't feel any differently about her first "babies".

But I do agree I am all the above to them. Friend, just as they are my best friends cause who else is always there when you need them, slave because they are always getting me to feed, water, walk, take them to dogpark etc, etc. And owner because someone has to be responsible enough to take them for their shots, put the flea/tick medicine on them etc.

[K9soul]

My husband and I consider ourselves Mom and Dad to the pups. The reason I think this feeling comes about, is because we are their guardians and caretakers too. With a friend normally, you aren't responsible for feeding them, taking them to the doctor when they aren't feeling well, comforting them during a storm, or whatever. You also wouldn't tell a friend over visiting to stop that chewing on the sofa :p, as well as expecting some amount of obedience from them.

Kay also makes a good point in that they fill many roles too, at different times.

But overall, I feel a parent to my pets, because I am responsible for their well being, just as a parent is to their child. My pets are fully dependent upon me for food, exercise, affection, etc. etc. :)

[PJ's Mom]

We are Mama and Daddy to our dogs, too. Rottie also likes to rub my face in the fact that I'm "grandma" to her bunny Thelmer. :rolleyes: :p

[ramanth]

Primarily, I consider myself Kia's Mom. :) But as a joke I say I'm her slave. :D

[robinh]

I agree with K9soul "But overall, I feel a parent to my pets, because I am responsible for their well being, just as a parent is to their child. My pets are fully dependent upon me for food, exercise, affection, etc. etc."

I know there are people who think I'm crazy, but I don't care. I love those little creatures as much as I love my son.

I also have 2 grandpuppies. Kevin and Lynnette tell them to go see "Dramma" and they run right to me.

Never used to believe that your heart could swell with more love to give if there were more opportunities, but my furkids taught me that. Not a bad lesson.

[wolfie]

Originally posted by K9soul
The reason I think this feeling comes about, is because we are their guardians and caretakers too. With a friend normally, you aren't responsible for feeding them, taking them to the doctor when they aren't feeling well, comforting them during a storm, or whatever. You also wouldn't tell a friend over visiting to stop that chewing on the sofa :p, as well as expecting some amount of obedience from them.

I suppose that's true. But I still won't call myself Daphne's mom. lol. :p But I seem to be in the minority. :)

[K9soul]

I didn't as often when I was younger, especially when I was still with my own mom, and she made the rules for everyone in the household. Gradually I found myself referring and thinking of myself as "mom" more and more to the dogs, and Tasha and Tommy are my first pups that I adopted on my own as an adult, so the maternal feeling in a way is even stronger then. :)

I hadn't really thought a lot about it before, but it's interesting to think about and see how other people feel, so I'm glad you brought up the question! :D

[catnapper]

She's my baby, so I'd have to be considered her mom. I feel weird when I call myself "mom" but have no problem calling my husband daddy to her. She LOVES my husband and gets so very excited at the phrase "daddy's home" gosh, you'd think we'd won the lottery with how excited she gets!

[amoore]

I feel like I am my dogs mom and Mahayana acts like their dad also. We love our fur babies very much!

[Twisterdog]

Originally posted by wolfie
I don't consider myself to be Daphne's 'mom.' I think it's kind of weird, no offence, when people call themselves their dog's mom/dad. :/

Daphne's more of my friend than my child... I mean I do care about her and take care of her, but... I don't know. What's your opinion? :)

Oh, and again, I'm not trying to offend anyone. :) Just want to know what you think.

I have always felt that way, as well. I am my human child's mother. I am not my dogs' mother. I love them very much and treat them very well ... but the relationship I have with dogs is not even close to the relationship I have with my own biological child. As it should be, IMO.

[Amber]

Katie is like my little sis. :)

[K9soul]

I do not think there is anything "wrong" with feeling maternal or paternal feelings towards a beloved dog. Nor do I feel it is wrong to feel just more like a good friend or caretaker.

I do not really care, however, to be told how I should or shouldn't act or feel towards my pets.

[wolfie]

Originally posted by K9soul
I do not really care, however, to be told how I should or shouldn't act or feel towards my pets.

Who told you how to act or feel towards your pets? :confused: Was it me? I certainly didn't mean to sound like that at all! I apoligize if that's what you thought! :) :) :) I'm not telling anyone what to do - I just wanted to know if other people considered themselves their dog's mom/dad, or something else. :) :) :) Sorry! :) :) :)

[K9soul]

No wolfie, I apologize if I seemed that way towards you. You did not come across that way to me at all ;)

[wolfie]

Oh, okay then K9soul. :) Now I feel dumb... lol :)

[RubyMutt]

I consider her my baby, so I guess that would make me her mom :D

[Tonya]

I'm their mommy. I talk to them in goofy jibberish and say "Oooooh, do you love your mommy?!" And they howl and howl. lol. It's cheesy, I know. ;)

[Rio and Me]

I'm definatly Rio's mummy.
i got her from a puppy, i fed her, cleaned her and loved her so i'm her mum.
I'm allways saying mummy loves you, or your mummys little angel etc, i do it in public and everything i dont care if people think i'm weird.
she is my baby.
Ky and Rio

[Christiansmommy]

Yes, Dale is our second son :) Which would make me his mommy :) and Christian's "little" brother, or should i say, younger brother :)

[Pam]

Interesting question! I voted for mom/dad. I could never think of myself as just their 'owner.' It sounds too cold, like they are objects, much like would I own a piece of furniture. I don't fall into the 'slave' category either because I do expect a level of respect and obedience from them. The 'friend' category didn't seem to go quite far enough because, since they live with me, they are family and thus more than just friends. I do worry about them just as I worried about my skin kids when they were growing up. They rely on me for all of their needs so Mom seemed to describe me best. :)

[anna_66]

I totally agree with what Pam said. I do expect certain things out of them, just like a parent would with a child.
But they are so much more than just my dogs-they are not a possession, they are part of our family:D

[Moose]

I've always considered myself Moose's and Zoey's mom. Josh likes to call himself Moose's step-dad and Zoey's dad...since we adopted Zoey together and I was the one that adopted Moose. :p

[cali]

I am mom to all my babys, my mom is grandma to all my babys. they know who mom is! lol they know where there grandma is to, everytight I saind all my babys to go say night to there grandma lol :D and I refere to happy and misty as my border babies :p

[molucass]

I definitely consider myself my "babies" mom. I have 3 dogs, but only 2 of them are actually "mine", and I have 6 rats... I call all of them my babies or "the kids".

I am 18, and do not plan on having any human children, so my animals will be my children instead.

When I am referring to my mom in regards to my dogs, I call her their "Mamaw". I have a 5 mo. old human niece, and shes going to call my mom Mamaw... so, thats what my babies think of her as.