Going to the Dog (Moms): Loving Our Children More Than Our Pets

Raising children requires mental, emotional, and spiritual commitment. Biba Kayewich

While biking the other day, I passed a woman wearing a sling-type contraption over her shoulder and around her waist. Poking out of the sling was the head of a small dog.

I’ve seen dogs pushed in strollers before. I think I’ve even seen them carried around in purses or bags. But swaddled in a sling like a baby? “Now that’s a new one,” I thought.

Such a sight really shouldn’t surprise me. After all, pets these days are the new version of kids. And to be honest, that’s a tragedy.

But before we dismiss these “dog moms” with a scoff, it’s important to take a step back, examine this phenomenon from afar, and consider if there are some important lessons we can learn from dog moms—both good and bad.

Dogs, the New Kids on the Block

“A Stunning Stat: More Pets Than Kids at Home,” proclaimed a headline from a real estate media organization last year. Declining birthrates caused the percentage of homes with children to drop to 40 percent in 2022 from 48 percent in 2002, the article explained, even while the percentage of homes with pets increased to 70 percent in 2022 from 56 percent in 1988.

That statistic only serves to confirm our own daily experiences. Today, we see dogs in stores, strolling the aisles with their owners. More people are sneaking their pets on planes as “therapy animals,” and a new airline just announced that it will give the white glove treatment to canines, putting doggy comfort over that of their human owners. Dog moms can now wear matching clothes with their pets—think of the classic Laura Ashley brand, which once advertised their wares for mother and child, only for mommy and fur baby this time—and a New York Times article recently discussed the rising prevalence of dogs in restaurants.

It seems that society is truly going to the dogs ... in more ways than one.

Pet Owners’ Good Qualities

But have you ever stopped to think that those who invest in their pets have some first-rate qualities? Consider the following.

For starters, dog moms (and dads) spend a lot of time training their fur babies. I’ve seen countless classes in the park in which dogs and their owners are learning important lessons—the dogs how to behave, the owners how to expect obedience. The classes recognize that dogs will never thrive if they’re given an unrestrained leash—they require love, balanced by steady discipline.

Dog moms also spend a lot of time with their fur babies. They take them for walks, give them solid meals, play with them—hey, they’re even setting up playdates with other dogs these days—all in an effort to show how much their pets are valued. Time is fleeting, especially in the life of a dog, so why waste those precious years by giving their pets such little attention?

Third, dog moms want to take their pets everywhere with them. This is seen in the phenomenon mentioned above, in which pets tag along to stores, ride on airplanes, and go on vacation with their owners. They want their precious pets to be respected, appreciated, and admired—along with their efforts to take care of them—rather than scorned or met with raised eyebrows.

Raising children requires mental, emotional, and spiritual commitment. Biba Kayewich

Learning From Dog Moms

Now, before you get mad about all of this attention focused on animals, consider how different our world would be if, instead of directing these qualities and attitudes toward our pets, we directed them toward the little human beings who run around on this planet known by the name of “children.”

What if we, as a society, encouraged parents to train their children, balancing love with obedience, rather than letting those children run wild, doing whatever they want, whenever they want to do it?

What if we, as a society, encouraged parents to spend time with their children, rather than telling both parents to get jobs and put their children in daycare or in an institutional school?

What if we, as a society, admired and loved children, praising their parents and respecting them for raising two, three, four, or more little ones, rather than rolling our eyes at them when they bring their offspring along to the grocery store or asking them if they’re done yet.

The rising prevalence of “dog moms” and their earnest desire to treat their pets like children can seem somewhat laughable to those who take a common-sense, traditional view of the world. But the reality is that they offer us a very handy mirror through which to view our societal problems. And one of those problems is that we’ve taken the love, care, and responsibility that our nation’s children should receive and redirected it toward non-human beings.

Why? Perhaps we’ve done so because we’re afraid of what children will do to us as individuals. A pet does require responsibility, but it doesn’t demand the selfless pouring into another’s good that a child does.

“The process of shaping the child ... shapes also the mother herself,” the late author and speaker Elisabeth Elliot wrote, uttering a thought that can also be applied to fathers. “Reverence for her sacred burden calls her to all that is pure and good, that she may teach primarily by her own humble, daily example.”

The fact is, children are a lot of work. But they also show us our real, selfish selves, and most of us really don’t want to see that reflected in the mirror. Nor do we want to make the sacrifices to become the models and examples that our children need. So we stick to our pets instead, becoming good dog moms and dads who have something toward which we can direct our love, but at a far lesser cost mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Yes, dog moms have a lot to teach us. But let’s not let those lessons go to the dogs. Let’s start applying them to our children and grandchildren, sacrificially committing to train our children in truth, beauty, and righteousness.