Generally It is absorbed that there exist a difference in choice for pets between male and female genders. Women mostly(not always) keep dogs as pets and men keeps birds , dogs , cats , horses and other animals as pets (mostly). I suppose there is an emotional or psychological linkage that differs in for male and females.
A paper entitled "Sexual differences in psychology and pet ownership" is available at http://www.naturalthinker.net/psychology_pets.pdf . It concludes as follows:
"The trend through four nations [Australia, United States, Britain and Japan] is that women outnumber men as pet owners, and that pet ownership is overwhelmingly for companionship and affection. Roughly a third of pet owners perceive their pets as child-substitutes, and women are more likely to own baby-like dogs, and engage in more pet-related activity, when they are childless. These general facts support the hypothesis that sexual differences in psychology influence attitudes to pets, where women are more likely than men to use pets as companions and child substitutes."
From this study, dogs and cats are considered to be liked by women because of their baby-like nature.
This seems more like a personal preference, an extension of one's own personality that is reflected in the kind of pet one prefers. Most women I know, like cats more than they do dogs, and most men that I know prefer dogs instead of cats. Then again, now that you bring this question up, I am thinking of the male friends who like cats and what common traits they share. Most men who like cats probably value qualities like grace and subtlety whereas the ones who like dogs are usually more straightforward and place high value on loyalty and friendship. That said, these are just personal observations. People who like horses, irrespective of their gender, usually like the outdoor life or prefer to live in open spaces rather than in apartments since that is logistically impossible. I'm not sure if gender plays a role in animal preference.
A paper entitled "Sexual differences in psychology and pet ownership" is available at http://www.naturalthinker.net/psychology_pets.pdf . It concludes as follows:
"The trend through four nations [Australia, United States, Britain and Japan] is that women outnumber men as pet owners, and that pet ownership is overwhelmingly for companionship and affection. Roughly a third of pet owners perceive their pets as child-substitutes, and women are more likely to own baby-like dogs, and engage in more pet-related activity, when they are childless. These general facts support the hypothesis that sexual differences in psychology influence attitudes to pets, where women are more likely than men to use pets as companions and child substitutes."
From this study, dogs and cats are considered to be liked by women because of their baby-like nature.
Dear Dr Tatsuo Tabata
You are very right , i have not gone through the contents of the paper that you mentioned but i got the same feeling the human " use pets as companions and child substitutes" rather than just pets
Dear Monica Bhattacharjee
Thanks for highlighting the traits & qualities like grace and subtlety , straightforwardness, loyalty and friendship. Really i haven't thought about them
Leaving out the gender of who prefers what pets like dogs or cats etc., At times pets also create an intangible existence position, especially Big Dogs give assurance of safety, an exercise companion, a watchful guard, a playmate for children, or just a big, lovable fur-ball to receive slobbery kisses from.
http://www.petmd.com/dog/top_tens/evr_dg_large_breed_dogs
This really surprised me based only on my opinion as I have no scientific reason. This is a good example of why common sense and statistical probability are not the same thing. In fact, I would have thought that preference of animals was the opposite of what you stated. Interesting information.
As humans have no tails to wag, best friends have to look elsewhere for signs to identify the feelings of happiness and friendliness. This ability to learn to recognize smiling faces is not unique to humans, but dogs also can,
Smiling, Your Dog Probably Knows It
http://www.livescience.com/14728-dog-smile-facial-expression-communication.html
We love all our little brothers. As a rule, my husband like a magnet attracts all the domestic animals, but they "speak" with me. They are so sensitive, they feel kind and "their own" native persons. You see, they choose us! As a rule, among a lot of people they come to us and ask for eating and communicating.We haven't dogs or cats at home, because our elder son has allergy.Nevertheless, in the places, where we appear, a lot of animals come to us. They understand, that we will never hurt them and support them. I think, gender doesn't matter.
You can make conclusions from personal experiences (N=1) or statistically look at the patterns at the population level (N=>>1)? It is known that gender différences express overlap, i.e. men and women visibly do the same (e.g. keeping a pet species), for instance? In addition, many families adopt pets. Who decided in a family to have a pet, e.g. is the mother choosing for the son or the father for the daughter (e.g. as a gift)?
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