Our animal obsession

Thanksgiving break is slowly approaching and I’m ecstatic, as I assume most students are. We’re all looking forward to real food, no homework and free laundry.

But I have to admit the part of every break I most look forward to is walking through the door, dropping my bags and getting sucker punched in the stomach by my dog.

Oh, and seeing my family. That part’s good, too.

I know I can’t be the only one who fangirls over her dog. Our generation has an unnatural and adorable obsession with our pets. And there’s no shame in it.

We like to brag about how cute they are, what tricks they can do and their funny quirks. When we see other dogs, we think of what our dogs would do in that situation.

You’ll have to forgive the bias toward dogs. I’m not a cat person.

I could go on for days about my dog. In fact ... His name is Kingsley. He’s a boxer. He’s anti-social, loves pizza, is allergic to nature and enjoys long ear rubs. So basically he’s me in dog form. Except for the ear thing.

And my best friends have similar relationships with their dogs. In fact, that’s how we became friends. Our dogs were our conversation starter. And the conversation hasn’t ended since.

I use my dog to connect with other people, whether it’s during an icebreaker in class or a random conversation somewhere. One fun fact about me? I named my dog after a Harry Potter character. You like carrots? My dog hates them. Oh, wow, you’re a neuroscience major? My dog can high-five.

I’ve tried to psychoanalyze why our generation feels this stronger affinity for animals, and it pretty much boils down to Disney.

Talking to animals stopped being crazy when Disney princesses started singing to them. After crossing that barrier, our relationships with animals became limitless. Up until bestiality. Don’t cross that line.

I’ve figured that there are two basic types of movies about animals.

The first tells the story of the animal and focuses mostly on its relationships with other animals, not people. For example, there’s “101 Dalmatians,” “Fox and the Hound,” and “Lady and the Tramp.”

They’re all told from the perspective of the animal. Though there are people involved, they aren’t as important. Through these movies we, as children, learned to sympathize with animals. The voices lent to them through the animation made them more human, and we continue to think of them like that.

The second type is movies about an animal’s relationship with a human. Think of “Old Yeller,” “Homeward Bound,” and “Air Bud.” “Air Bud” isn’t Disney, but it’s about how a dog helps a lonely boy find self-confidence.

In “Homeward Bound” the dogs and cat literally go on a journey to get their humans back. And the relationship between Travis Coates and Old Yeller will rip your heart out and push it through a paper shredder.

In these movies, the animals were more than just pets. They were best friends and family. And so that’s how we grew to view our own pets.

And I think treating our pets like family is perfectly healthy. You might get crazy looks if you’re like me and refer to yourself as your pet’s mom, but you’re expressing love, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

­— lnbanks@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Lexia Banks on Twitter @LexiaBanks.