Born or Made?

I think most people and domestic animals are born to love all animals and then their environment will foster or blunt that love. I have seen in both people and animals, especially cats where they are afraid of every thing and every body. I have seen one cat out of a litter that from day one will hide and not socialize with anyone. When they are born this way no amount of socializing will change that. I have seen the same traits in humans. My niece from day one was afraid of every thing and everybody. She is 23 now and is still afraid of all animals and shys away from people. Envirnoment is a big influence but some times there is an innate fear built in that can't be changed.

I believe people are born with the propensity to love animals, or not. I don't think it really matters if you have pets or not growing up.

I loved all animals, especially dogs, from the time I was a toddler. We had one dog when I was a child, but that's all. My mom said when I was a little girl, we would go to her friends houses to visit new moms and babies when they were born. She expected me to be ga-ga over the new baby, like she was. Apparently, I could have cared less and didn't even want to look at the baby. But, I would always ask the mom, "Do you have any pets? Do you have a dog? Can I pet her?"

As soon as I grew up and moved out, I got every species of animals sold in the pet trade, at one time or another. Now, I only have dogs again, but I have eight of them! I also know people who grew up in a house full of all kinds of animals, and as adults said, "Yuck. No way I'm having all those animals in my house like my parents did!"

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Originally Posted by kokopup

I think most people and domestic animals are born to love all animals and then their environment will foster or blunt that love. I have seen in both people and animals, especially cats where they are afraid of every thing and every body. I have seen one cat out of a litter that from day one will hide and not socialize with anyone. When they are born this way no amount of socializing will change that. I have seen the same traits in humans. My niece from day one was afraid of every thing and everybody. She is 23 now and is still afraid of all animals and shys away from people. Envirnoment is a big influence but some times there is an innate fear built in that can't be changed.

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I think you hit base on both. either it being there since birth,, or environment being key factor/s. whether its home environment or not an whether they are human or animal.

I was always an animal lover since I was a toddler. I LOVED horses as a child, although I never had one until I was 14. However, I am definitely a dog lover now and always have been.

I pretty much love most animals, and always will. I think a true animal lover is born that way, or at least has a special love of them from a very young age.

My boyfriend grew up not liking animals, never wanted them. Since he met me he has totally changed his mind about dogs and just adores mine, especially Sammy (and Sam ADORES him!). He may not be a dog-lover, but he is capable of loving dogs he knows.

I was born loving them all... and I always knew I would get a cat when I left home--which I did! (my dad hated them, no way was he going to let me have one). I loved my hamsters growing up. My oldest son was born loving them all, too. He was fortunate to have an iguana for several years -- I loved that little iggy too! However when he was about 10, he kept pressing for a pet scorpion, I did draw the line ... I told him "Sorry, but no. You aren't allowed to have pets that can kill you", lol.

I was definately born to love animals. I don't necessarily like all animals, but I think the word love means that you will always have feelings for something. I don't really like birds, but I would never want to see any bird be hurt or unhappy and if I ever found one that needed help I would be there until the end!

But I was born loving cats, dogs, and bunnies that's for sure! And fish :)

I grew up on a farm with a variety of animals - we always had dogs and cats as pets.

When we moved into a city (without our farm pets:() and I began to go to school cats often followed me home:D. My Mom and Dad finally let me have my first kitten when I was 12. Sammy was beautiful and my best friend and my family had him for 22 years!

I think people in general are born without bias one way or another; circumstances and immediate environment shape their choices and preferences. My pets were my first friends - living on a farm with no other children around can be lonely. Our dogs and cats were my playmates and I grew up feeling more comfortable with them than other children. Going to school in the city changed that however, my love for animals never changed. Life without a furry friend is a lonely place.

While I loved animals I was also scared of some of them when I was a kid- e.g. cats- after I put my hands in what I now can recognize as cat diarrhea in my sand box :eek:
Plus I was scared of many dogs- like the big Rottie our butcher had.
I even was scared stiff of wolves- thanks to Grimm's tales and some dreams I had.
It changed when I grew up. The wife of my dad's cousin was into dog rescue and when I was 18 I stayed in their house with 5 dogs when they went on vacation. I always thought then I would breed dogs.
I do not know exactly when I became a cat person - the first cat was a rescue in a house my first husband and I shared with others when I was 21. I suppose it was Grisette's babies who totally won me over.
If I had a big house that was really in the country side I would still have cats and dogs.
As for other animals like wolves I learned to love them when I knew more about them and today I think they are so beautiful and do not deserve their bad reputation in kids' tales.
I am still a little bit reluctant with insects and spider-likes. I think they are wonderful and very useful- but it would be a bit much to say I love them. I was however never scared of snakes.

Born loving them all...and I think all or almost all people are born that way (just as almost all baby animals seem to be born loving and open). IMO it's usually something in the environment or how they're raised that changes/limits the natural openness and love (or doesn't offer opportunities, in the case of people who don't have pets when young and aren't around animals very often).

Cindy

It's actually very difficult for me to tell since I never got a chance not to like animals, there were so many around me from the start! I think it must be a combo of both being born with the love of animals and just growing up surrounded by them.

My coworker made me think of this thread today. She's NOT an animal person at all, not even a fish in her house. However, yesterday and today and maybe all weekend she's dogsitting for her sister because her brother-in-law is in the hospital. She desribed the situation to me sounding quite disgusted by the thought of a dog in her house, although she says its a really nice dog. She knows absolutely nothing about animals.

"Last night it was by my side of the bed and it barked like maybe it heard a car and I told her to go lay down. Then it went over by my husband and barked and finally he asked her if she wanted to go outside. She wanted out at midnight! Then she wanted to go out again at 5am! And she stunk when she came in. I thought she smelled bad enough already! She was out there kinda rolling in the snow and I'm like oh no what are you doing. And then she held her bak foot up and started shaking it like she was cold. I called my sister beause I didn't know if she was having some sort of seizure or something was wrong with her leg. She told me it probably had snow stuck to it and I tried wiping her feet with a towel but she's a golden retriever so she wouldn't stay still."

Then we get to the part about the hair (keep in mind a roomba vacuum holds like half a cup of dirt)...
"I guess I'm glad I'm taking care of her now and not in the summer. I'm told they shed MORE then. We emptied the roomba and you should have seen the hair. And she got nose prints on my patio door and she was licking the moisture off the door. That's so weird"

She has a son in 9th grade and a daughter in 3rd. I know her daughter really wants a dog but she said "my son came up to me and said he guesses he really doesn't want a dog anymore because it follows him around all the time and it bothers him. He didn't know it would do that"

I'm not sure what makes an animal person, but she has one daughter that made it through the horrors of living in an animal free house so far and might turn out "normal". Obviously the daughter wasn't taught right.

Keep in mind this is one day of having the dog. She's already talking about how much she's going to have to clean the house once it goes back.