Is social skills important for pets too? A survey on owners' ideals versus reality.

 

April is here, and spring has arrived! Spring is said to be the season when the most people start getting pets. It seems especially popular around Golden Week, when families spend extended time together.
You might even meet a new family member yourself. Today, it's possible to build a better relationship between pets and their owners, fostering social skills and manners so pets can accompany their owners to various places.
Instead of thinking, "I can't take my pet out because they bark when we go outside since I haven't trained them well enough..." wouldn't it be wonderful if both pets and their owners could learn proper manners and enjoy a life where they can go many places together?

Actually, Think Pet Project previously conducted a survey comparing what pet owners actually do for their pets with their ideal aspirations (regardless of whether they actually do them). This time, we'll share some interesting data from that survey.
(Online survey data: Area: Tokyo and 3 neighboring prefectures / Sample: 1000 households / Period: September 19-21, 2014)

As we've mentioned in past columns, the term "pet owner" encompasses a diverse range of owners. Our survey focused specifically on "dog owners who actively seek communication with their pets," and the results were quite interesting.

 

A pet's early years are a crucial period for developing "social skills"

This may not be widely known among first-time pet owners, but it's said that pets develop "social skills" during their early years by having opportunities to interact with other animals (dogs or cats other than themselves).
Of course, communication with humans is also vital, and frequent interaction with people outside the immediate family is considered important. Against this backdrop, 49.3% of owners answered YES to the question: "To help your puppy develop social skills from an early age, did you do things like take walks while holding them or invite people to your home?"

Regarding the question "Did you participate in puppy parties (events where puppies can learn essential social skills during the critical socialization period between 2-5 months old)?" 11.7% answered they actually did participate (incidentally, 21.3% answered they wanted to participate but lacked the environment).

Regardless of actual implementation, 67.5% of owners believe the ideal practice is "to carry the puppy during walks or invite people to the home to help develop social skills from puppyhood," while 38% believe "puppy parties should be attended."
For both practices, the ideal percentage of owners who believe it should be done is about 20% higher than the actual percentage who are doing it.

While a gap certainly exists between pet owners' ideals and reality, it's also clear that, on average, pet owners' awareness is by no means low. Both social skills and consideration for people who dislike dogs are crucial points to consider when thinking about going out with pets. We aim to promote efforts, both through the Think Pet Project alone and through the Design with Pet Project involving various participating companies, to help pet owners further raise their awareness and increase the number who take more concrete actions.