@Pandora I totally agree with you. I don’t think it’s human as in genetic. I think it’s cultural. An affectation. A trend. A fad. It’s important to a lot of people and probably really helps many people in a mental health way.
But I think it is also potentially dangerous. If you watch shows like the dog whisperer and others of that ilk, you’ll see trainers trying to get people away from their anthroporphized view of animals and to help them understand real animal psychology so they can treat their pets better. Dogs should not be the owner of the human. They can end up with bad care that way. They can end up hurting other animals and people that way.
So while I understand why people treat pets like babies and children, I don’t think it is a good thing. I don’t think it is helpful for humans to imagine what goes on inside animals’ heads. They think like humans, not animals, and get it badly wrong. To understand an animal, you have to observe the animal without letting any of your human preconceptions get in the way. This is a nearly impossible task since most people have no clue how to see through the eyes of anyone else, much less a creature from another species.
Humans have evolved to be empathetic, I think, but that doesn’t mean we are that good at it. And when we try to do it and fail with animals, a lot of animals get hurt. It’s better not to even try, than to get it badly wrong. It is our nature to try to imagine what goes on in our pets’ heads, but it is also our nature to be scientific, and this is a case where it is better to be scientific than indulge our fantasies.