It was readily apparent from the tone of all the discussions held for this study that pet owners love talking about their animals. This is partly because of the inevitable enjoyment which anyone feels when talking about a subject of intense interest to themselves, but there are also some rather more subtle issues at work which help to intensify the enjoyment.
Firstly, owners are allowed to talk about their pets, at least among other pet owners, in a way which society does not tolerate so readily for children. One can skite about and admire the exploits of one's pets with few inhibitions, whereas lengthy discussions of one's children in the same tones can earn the ire of the listener.
"Our cat learned to open the fridge. It had the timing so perfect, it would hit its paw against the seal and then jump on to the bench, into the fridge and eat the food, GladWrap and all. So we got a new fridge. Within a week she had that worked out too"
"Ralph is a pig. He'll eat lollies, rubbish, pineapple, anything - if you give him an ordinary chip he won't eat it, he wants a corn chip"
"I've got a menagerie at my place and every animal gets on with every other animal. The cat and the dog and the rabbit all chase each other around the back garden. They sleep together"
"I have real trouble getting mine in the bath and she doesn't like the hairdryer. I have to chase her around and around the house".
"Our dog gets in the pool with the kids in summer, and he loves the hose". "Our dog hates the lawnmower" "Ours hates the whipper snipper, I go zoom zoom at him" "You're terrible!".
"My parents' dog knows when they're going away, it's neurotic. Whenever they go, it comes to us and he sulks for two days, he's off his food, then he comes good and makes the best of it".
"Our dog goes and sits in the car the moment I pick up the keys".
"My dog loves spaghetti. When he was tiny he used to suck it up".
"No more animals I said, then my daughter's friend said she had a cat she just wanted to bring around to show me - well, she did a real number on me - "Catastrophe" he's called, because one night he fell 40 feet".
"My dog howls at The Young and The Restless" "Do you blame him?!"
"She's a terrific dog. When she can't get anyone to play with her, she drops her ball down the stairs, chases it down, then brings it up and does it again".
Secondly, as mentioned in Chapter 2, society places considerable pressure on people to be "good" - tolerant, non-judgemental, unprejudiced and so on. Trying to observe these rules in life and conversation can be hard work, as they may run counter to a person's inclinations. These sorts of pressures simply don't apply to animals, or at least not to the same extent, and this makes the telling of pet stories much easier and simpler. Well-established prejudices against, say, certain breeds of dog, or against cats in general, or the fairly simple expectations one has of a pet (in comparison with what is expected in human relationships) all serve to remove potential complexities from the owner/pet relationship. The uni-dimensional nature of the relationship thus adds to the enjoyment of it, and to the enjoyment of talking about it.
The following quotes are a sample of the sort of simplistic generalisations which are frequent in conversations about pets.
"I think the dog's personality depends on the family they're with: they take on your personality. Dogs look like their owners, too, if you ever see a pug-nosed dog!"
"One of my mates had a Rottweiler and after seven months it still didn't know its name. The vet said 'don't buy a Rottweiler, they're stupid' ".
"The little one is so aggro, we call him Crypto because he even beats Superman. The big one, he's a Bull Terrier and he's so gentle".
"People have different responses to black dogs because you can't read the expression on their faces so well, so if you're in the park you're more anxious if you see a black dog".
"We used to have a cat called Naughty George, we took him to the vet and after that he was just George".
"Little dogs bite far more than big dogs".
"Shepherds got a bad reputation in the '50s and '60s".
"I was bitten on the hand by a Bull Terrier and it just wouldn't budge - they don't, you know".
"I don't trust people who don't have animals - they're lacking in warmth".
"I hated my daughter's boyfriend and he was the only person the dog attempted to bite".
"I'm a bit concerned about people who don't like dogs. I don't trust people who don't like animals".
Thirdly, irrespective of how intensely an owner may feel about their pet, for most people they are still regarded as animals, not humans. It is, thus, permissible to laugh at hard luck and even violent pet stories, whereas to do so with human stories would be tantamount to "speaking ill of the dead", or condoning behaviour likely to attract the attention of child welfare authorities. Euthanasia is also a widely accepted practice with animals that are suffering.
"I took my cat to the vet and while I was waiting I bought a flea collar and some shampoo. When I took her in, the vet said, 'I'll just take her out the back' and I thought, 'Oh, they're going to put some plaster on her,' and then they bought me back the lead. I thought, what?, they've killed her, and I walked out through the waiting room with my shampoo, collar and empty lead".
"He raced up the steps and belted his head on the door because his dog door was shut - God, it was funny!"
"Euthanasia is a privilege animals have which is denied to humans".
"You hate doing it, but sometimes putting them down is kindest".
"I know a bloke who shot his dog and buried it in a hole the dog had dug itself he begrudged paying for it".
In consequence of the above influences, pet stories can become key elements of family tradition and folklore, told with relish and embellishments, laughter and tears, and handed down from one generation to the next. Their popularity may be due, in part, to the paucity of human folklore, now that we have moved so far from our tribal origins. Death related stories seem to hold a particular fascination (and to cause the most mirth).
"My Mum was suffering from a nervous breakdown and Ringo the dog was the only one who could really reach her. We lost him in the Dandenongs and weeks later he turned up, all thin and drooling at the mouth, in Northcote, Mum's old home, and then he went from there to Thornbury to her new house, but we weren't there Mum was in hospital, and eventually he died".
"We had a cat in Brisbane. When we moved from The Gap to Holland Park it managed to find its way across town - it died after that too".
"The vet said he'd had a heart attack so we bought him home. He died at 4.15a.m. on Friday 13th we were with him when he died and to think he'd been the sickest of the litter and lived the longest".
"My old poodle is 16 now. He came from the pound, he's blind, he can't hear, he's got a pin in his hip, he's been hit recently and got seven broken ribs, but he's tough and he sleeps outside, not on any bed - I'm a country girl, you see".
"When the kids were toddlers, the cat used to follow them around. We could always find them by looking for where the cat was".
"I explained to the children that the cat had gone to heaven and my son said 'do you think God will have chunky tuna? And how does he get from under the ground up to heaven?'. 'Magic', I said!"
"I'm driving her to the vet, all mangled, the children are screaming and I'm crying and saying don't die on me, and she came good - she's even got a boyfriend now".
"The cat is going senile now; he sleeps on the bed and he dribbles in my ear" "Sounds like my husband!"