Why Dogs Become Our New Kids

With birth rates plummeting around the world, new family trends are emerging: Millions of people treat dogs like children, including birthday parties, homemade snacks and social media accounts.

But what drives this “fur baby” phenomenon that reveals the ever-changing relationship between modern society and family? New research from the University of Eötvös Loránd in Hungary shows that while dogs don’t actually replace children, they may provide a way to meet our deep parenting needs rather than raising offspring.

Numbers of fur babies thriving

Statistics draw amazing pictures. In most European countries, one-quarter to half of households now have at least one dog. Meanwhile, between 1963 and 2023, the global fertility rate fell from 5.3 births per woman to 2.3. In Hungary alone, 87.5% of adults spend less than an hour a week on children.

But here’s what’s interesting: According to a representative study, 16% of Hungarian dog owners think their pets are children. In some non-representative samples, the number jumped to 37%.

What drives this transformation? Researchers suggest that dogs represent what they call “full compromises” – satisfying our genetic embedded drivers to form bonds with dependent organisms without substantial resources investing in raising biological children.

Why Dogs Make Perfect “Practice Kids”

Dogs are not only random recipients of our parents’ instincts. Research shows that they are perfect for kid-like roles. Their cognitive abilities match children aged 2 to 2.5 years. They can distinguish the faces of happy and angry people, follow the pointing gestures, and even show emotional contagion, which is actually “grab” the master’s emotions.

Then there is the cute factor. Small mind-shaped breeds such as pugs and French bulldogs breed, look like babies, with large eyes and round faces, with the same nerve response as human babies. Some dogs even have special facial muscles that wolves lack, allowing them to make those irresistible “puppy eyes”.

Dependence also reflects the dynamics of parent-child. City dogs can’t decide what to eat, walk or meet with – their owners control almost every aspect of their lives, just like what parents do to young children.

Attachment Science

Perhaps most notably, the dog builds a true attachment bond with its owner to reflect the baby caregiver’s relationship. Using a psychological test version designed for children, the researchers found that dogs exhibited the same behavioral pattern: they used the owner as a “safety basis” for exploration and used a “safe haven” during stress.

Brain imaging studies reveal the neurochemical reality behind these bonds. Similar brain areas are activated when the mother looks at pictures of her dog and her child. During the interaction, the “love hormone” oxytocin in dogs and owners increased, with the same chemical pathways involved in parent-child binding in humans.

But the dog is not a child

Despite the deep emotional connection, most people still distinguish between dogs and human children when it matters. When faced with moral dilemmas, most people choose to save human lives, even their beloved pets.

“Although in the eyes of many, despite the high dependence and attachment of dogs to caregivers, dog ownership still brings a lower commitment than child caregiving,” explains Laura Gillet, a PhD student at the School of Research. “In many factors, dogs have relatively short lifespans, which may contribute to it, as most people expect more than dogs but do not have their children.”

Researchers have found that dog breeders take many forms throughout people’s lives. A dog may be the “children” of a young couple who later became the “furry siblings” of their biological children and eventually became the companion of an empty nest.

Treating the dark side of dogs like babies

This kind of child-like treatment is not always beneficial to the dog itself. The need for very infant characteristics leads to serious welfare problems, especially for flat breeds that are prone to dyspnea, eye problems and shortened lifespan.

“We want to point out that contrary to the general perception, only a few dog owners actually treat pets like human children,” added Eniko Kububinyi, head of the research team. “In most cases, dog parents choose dogs precisely because they don’t like children and recognize their species-specific needs.”

Overprotective “parenting” can also backfire. Dogs carrying around and avoiding normal social experiences often have behavioral problems, including aggression and fear.

What does this mean for modern society

The rise of dog parenting reflects a greater change in how we form families and find meaning. With the weakening of traditional kinship networks and increasing urban segregation, pets may meet the fundamental needs of human beings to care for others.

The researchers stressed that this does not necessarily mean using dogs instead of children. Instead, it may represent human adaptation to the social environment while maintaining the cooperative reproductive instinct of our species.

The main findings of the study include:

• Dogs’ cognitive abilities match humans aged 2-2.5
• The attachment bond between the dog and the owner reflects the parent-child relationship
• Similar brain areas are activated when mothers view pictures of dogs and children
• Most dog parents still prioritize human life over animal life
• The parenting role of dogs changes during the owner’s life stages

As society strives to cope with the decline in birth rates and the ever-changing family structure, our relationship with dogs is a window into how humans adapt their deepest social instincts to modern life. Whether dogs are truly used as children’s alternatives or simply meeting complementary social needs, one thing is clear: the bond between humans and their canine companions continues to develop in ways that challenge traditional family ideas.

The study, published in the journal European Psychologist, is currently conducting a global survey to deepen understanding of human dog relationships.