When you get a pet, you might find that family and friends offer a lot of advice. Some of it might be useful, particularly for people without much prior experience, but some of it can be outdated or inaccurate, regardless of how well-meaning it is!
And in the social media age, it can feel as if we’re constantly bombarded with information and advice online, too. Falsehoods aren’t just spread by word of mouth – there’s a lot of outdated advice that’s still prevalent on the internet about everything from the best dog leashes to how long you can leave a cat alone.
Recent research has indicated that a lot of cat and dog owners still believe a lot of outdated information about their pets, and it’s incredibly eye-opening.
Researchers asked 290 current and former pet owners to complete an online survey, in which they had to agree or disagree with various statements. In general, the statements with the most agreement were those either more likely to be accurate or those that could be accurate depending on the circumstances.
For example, the researchers considered the statement “cats rub against our legs to show affection” to likely be accurate, and the majority of people agreed with it. However, a higher number of respondents agreed that “cats can see in total darkness” and that “cats are low maintenance pets” – both statements considered unlikely to be accurate. Another misconception was that “cats can fall from high places without getting hurt,” which isn’t necessarily true. Can cats see in the dark? Here’s the truth.
Where dogs are concerned, the statements “dogs need to know who’s in charge” and “if you have a dog, you need a garden/yard” had high levels of agreement despite the researchers considering them to likely be inaccurate.
Most pet parents also agreed with the statements “dogs must never bite their owner” and “dogs love being hugged,” despite the researchers considering the accuracy of both to depend on the circumstances.
There weren’t any major differences between the responses given by men and women, but older participants were more likely than younger respondents to believe that “dogs misbehave to punish their owners,” which is likely to be inaccurate.
While this research has quite a small sample size, it’s clear to see how certain misconceptions remain widely believed, particularly those rooted in outdated dominance theory – that dogs need to learn who’s in charge and need a pack leader. Likewise, that dogs misbehave to punish us, when dogs don’t have the cognitive ability to do that.
If you’d like to brush up on your dog knowledge, here are 10 interesting dog facts you've probably never heard of, until now. Meanwhile, these six dog nutrition myths busted by a vet are well worth reading!
