Standing in line at my local coffee shop on one of the first genuinely warm days of spring, I ran into a woman I’ve seen in the woods where we walk our dogs. It took me a couple of beats to place her since the last time we had crossed paths we were both wearing winter coats, hats, and gloves. In the course of our conversation about dogs and walking, she exclaimed, “I can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t have a dog."

“I know,” I agreed. “Aren’t they great?”

To many people, life without a dog, a cat, or some other animal feels like less of a life. They make us get outside and walk, they lean against our legs or sprawl across our laps, they need our care, and they invite us, even after we turn into stodgy adults, to play. Their presence widens our awareness of the world in which we all live in ways that are hard to describe.

In essence, that’s the subject of the articles on this site. Why do we love dogs, cats, horses, and other creatures? How did certain species come to live with us? What is the nature of our relationship with animals? What effects do we have on each other? Drawing on exciting research from the multidisciplinary field of Human-Animal Studies, I’ll explore possible answers to these and related questions.

Welcome to Pets, People, and Other Animals!

                                                                             --Nora Mitchell