What's the Difference Between a Pet Parent and a Pet Owner?
Here are some simple yet crucial distinctions between pet lovers and pet owners:
Are you a pet owner or a pet parent? What is the difference between a pet parent and a pet owner anyway? The truth is that about 64 million households in own dogs in the U.S alone. Globally, about 33% of the world’s population own dogs.
So, yeah - there is no doubt that a lot of people around the world love dogs. But, which of these people see themselves merely as dog owners and which ones see themselves as pet parents?
What's the Difference?
To be honest, there is a very small, yet incredibly distinctive distinction between pet lovers and pet owners. There is a simple test that could help you distinguish between being a pet lover and a pet owner.
Say, for example, you and your neighbor both have dogs, different breeds but dogs all the same. Off the top of your head:
What is the name of your neighbor’s dog?
What breed is he/she?
How old is he/she?
Do they have any medical conditions?
What do they like? Long walks, runs in the park etc.?
If you saw him in a crowd without being leashed to your neighbor, would you recognize him?
If all of these questions are beginning to sound a little creepy and nosy then you are a dog lover. A pet parent is the kind of person who takes an interest in such things and makes it their duty to know these facts just. Do you see the difference?
Crucial Distinctions Between Pet Owners and Pet Parents
Here are some simple yet crucial distinctions between pet lovers and pet owners:
1. A Pet Owner Has No Personal Space Issues; Pet Parents Do?
Would you ever kick your child out of your bed because you wanted the entire space to yourself? There is a good chance that you wouldn't. Even though you will be careful to set boundaries, any time that baby runs to your bed to sleep with you because they are scared of the thunderstorm or simply can't fall asleep without you there, you will let them stay. That's what parents do.
Pet owners don't have this problem. Their dogs are not allowed on their beds or even on the furniture. This means that they can sleep knowing full well that Kujo won't come bounding in insisting on sleeping on that warm patch smack in the middle of the bed. Pet parents, on the other hand, can hardly remember the last time they had the bed or the couch to themselves. They share all these spaces with their dog and they love it.
2. Pet Owners Have Vets; Pet Parents Know Their Dog's Doctor
A pet owner will be satisfied with finding any old vet on their address book and booking an appointment. Pet parents, on the other hand, go to great lengths to find their dog the right doctor. They make sure that they have a personal relationship with this vet (they have them on speed dial even) just so that their dog gets the best possible personalized care.
If you are the kind of person to use your dog insurance to visit a vet, then you are a pet parent. The fact that you took out an insurance policy on your dog's health means that you value that pooch and want to make sure that they get the best possible care without money becoming an issue.
3. Pet Lovers Love Pets; Pet Parents Think Their Dog is the World's Best Dog Ever
A typical pet lover is someone who loves animals in general. They have the tendency to be drawn to them by the mere fact that they are animals. Pet parents, on the other hand, have the same tendency but they also have an inherent bias that ties them to their own pets. These people believe that their dogs or cats or whichever pet they have is the absolute best and all other pales in comparison.
This is regardless of the fact that whatever animal they might be admiring at the time could very well be an award-winning animal. Their heart is always firmly set on the biased fact that their pet is the best despite the facts.
4. Pet Lovers Can Watch Pet Movies with Sad Endings; Pet Parents Tend to Avoid Them
While it is true that pet lovers find it difficult to watch animal movies with sad endings, they can suffer through them. Whenever a pet parent watches a pet movie with a sad ending for the pet in question, they tend to bawl their eyes out or just simply avoid watching it altogether.
5. Pet Lovers Have Selfies with Their Pet; Pet Parents Have Collages
A pet owner will take the occasional selfie with their dog while a pet parent will have entire albums and collages of them and their pet doing almost everything together. They are that inseparable.
While there is a difference between being a pet owner and a pet parent, the truth is that it's almost always only a matter of time before any pet owner becomes a pet parent. It only takes meeting that one special pet.