Is it wrong to refer to the dog as the kids' Sister? (children, cats)

[beatlecrazy]

I would never call a dog or cat someone's sister, cousin, brother, grandmom etc etc. To me it is strange. BUT - I also would not think strange of someone who decided to refer to animals like that, or speak my mind. I just would see how much they love and cherish their pet, and I would be content

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

We have 2 kids 8 and 9 and an 8 year old bichon. Every day after school the girls take their "sister" for her afternoon walk. They use the poop bags to discard poop. A neighbor heard me tell them "It's time to take your sister for a walk" and said I was giving the kids the distorted value of the dog. I was flabbergasted and didn't really say anything.

Our 3 pets are definitely family members and all our pets have been family members and of course the kids know they are not human but I was wondering: Do you refer to your pets as brothers or sisters?

Eh! Your neighbor needs to lighten up. It's only a problem, kind of, if your bichon is a boy.

It just occurred to me: When my husband comes home from work, I tell Artie, "Daddy's home!" Jeremy used to say, "I'm not his father!" Uh... duh. Other than that reference, though, I never use any other familial terms (mommy, son, etc...) in terms of Artie -- just the Daddy reference.

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

We have 2 kids 8 and 9 and an 8 year old bichon. Every day after school the girls take their "sister" for her afternoon walk. They use the poop bags to discard poop. A neighbor heard me tell them "It's time to take your sister for a walk" and said I was giving the kids the distorted value of the dog. I was flabbergasted and didn't really say anything.

Our 3 pets are definitely family members and all our pets have been family members and of course the kids know they are not human but I was wondering: Do you refer to your pets as brothers or sisters?

If the dog's name is "sister" that would be one thing. However, placing the dog on the sibling level with your daugters does, IMO, send a mixed message as to the value of your daughters and their position in the hierarchy in the family. Kids have an active imagination and if they wanted to "pretend" the dog is a sister that might be one thing; but, that a parent introduces this relationship as reinforced "reality" is quite another. YMMV.

[strawflower]

It's not a huge problem, at least in my opinion! I often say to my dog "go outside and play with your brothers and sisters!" or whatever the circumstance is. Although I don't do it around the kids because I feel that's giving them mixed messages about the value of a pet, It sounds like your neighbor is being very uptight..

[TabulaRasa]

Our 6-year old neighbor kid calls my boyfriend Willie's "dad." Of course, he also thinks the dog is a superhero.

I heard him telling the other neighbor kid, when we came down the street on a walk, "Did you know that dog has superpowers?" Other, older, nobody's-fool-type kid: "How do you know?" Little kid: Because "THE DAD TOLD ME."

So I asked J if he told the kid the dog has superpowers. He said that the kid asked him if Willie was "A halper dog," presumably because we walk him with a harness, which looks a little like a vest, which the kid's obviously seen on guide dogs and therapy dogs. So J was like, "Yeah, sure, he "halps" me. He "halps" eat our food, and "halps" make us laugh by doing tricks." I guess that translated into "The dad says the dog has superpowers." Too funny.

[dogmomof2]

I don't think it's weird. I refer to my dogs as brother and sister. Other people call me the dog's mom (hence the name), but I never refer to myself as their mom, nor does DH refer to me as mom. The dogs know us by our first names If we had human children I would probably jokingly refer to them as siblings.

Your neighbor needs to relax a little. It's not like you are making the "sisters" share food or the human child drink from a water bowl on the floor, go potty outside and wear a collar and leash. (Although there is a good case to be made for kiddie leashes IMO!)

[lilamx]

I refer to my dogs as my babies and my children all the time (half-jokingly). Some of my friends who are non-pet owners and not animal lovers don't understand me, but I don't really care. To me they're as family as the rest of my human family. I even feel badly when I refer to them as "dogs".

[Niftybergin]

I agree that the neighbor needs to just chillax.

I'm reminded of the scene from Marley & Me near the end when Marley finally passes. The family is having a funeral for him and saying their goodbyes. The kids/parents are each saying something or giving a last gift to Marley, and one of the kids reads a letter he wrote to Marley: "Dear Marley I love you more than anything in the whole world, I hope you like heaven and have lots of things to chew on, your brother Connor Richard Grogan."

When I watched the movie the first time, I thought it was great that the kid (who was about 10 or so), thought of Marley as his brother. Why's that a bad thing?

But I know that not everyone values pets the way I value mine. It's a worldview thing. It is what it is.

[kahncss]

I think it's cute your daughter's refer to the dog as their sister. It's hardly sending them any message except the dog is part of the family, not to be disgarded for silly reasons like you see on Craigslist. We have several dogs, but bought our daughter her own chihuahua a couple years ago. Those two have a special bond. Everyday when I go pick my daughter up from school, I'll take Chloe along and tell her it's time to get her sister. It's totally adorable how Chloe lights up when she sees my daughter.

Like another poster, I too refer to my husband as "daddy" to the dogs. If I say the word and my husband isn't home yet, my Lab will fly through the house to the front door waiting in anticipation for him.

My niece got a new Boxer pup for Christmas and I posted him on my Facebook page showing off my new great nephew pup.

I think when family members treat their pets as more than "just a dog", they accept that they're in it for the long run and don't consider them disposable because they chew something up, soil the rug or because a baby is due.

It sound like your neighbor never had the joy of having a furbaby.

[Lola4]

When our human kids were young, we didn't refer to them and the dog as siblings...but we would have had we thought of it. lol
Human kids are now grown and daughter has two cats. Daughter refers to us as the grandparents to her cats. Never gave it a second thought.