Figure 1.--Here a London boy in November 1967 takes the family per, Sheba for a walk, or is it the other way around. We are not sure what to make of his cap, it was not a school cap. You just know that thus boy is going to want a dog just like Sheba when he grows up.

We note all kinds of pets in England, including budgies (paraqueetes), dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, mice, parrots, snakes, and other animals. The two most well known pets are of course cats and dogs. And the Brirish are especially noted for their devoltion to their cats and dogs. This reputation probably stems from the fact that the British were the first country to enter the Industrial Revolution and thus the first country in which the middle class and better-off working ckass commonly kept small pets. Many breeds of small dogs were bred in Brirtain during the 19th century so they could be kept as pets in the expanding industrial cities. Britain has one of the highest density of cat and dog owners in the world. The choice of dogs and cats is interesting. One academic study that about a quarter of British houselolds had cats and nearly a third had dogs. [University of Bristol] That means about half of household had onre of the other, a few of course had both. That mean about 10.3 million cats and 10.5 million dogs. Interestingly their was a higher incidence of university degrees among cat owners than dog owners. [More cats ...."] Another study suggests that, "Man's best friend, the faithful hound, has been usurped by the self-sufficient feline as the most popular pet. Today's busy lifestyles mean that cats, with their independent natures, have ousted their more demanding rivals in the affections of millions of families." [Duckworth] The numbers show, however, the relative numbers are fairly close. One interesting aspect of British pet keeping is that the strong association between boys and dogs celebrated in literature in America seems less true in Britain. The British pet keeper commonly described is usually an adult, not children.

Sources

Duckworth. Lora. "Cats usurp dogs as most popular pets in Britain," The Independent (October 17, 2001)

"More cat owners 'have degrees' than dog-lovers," BBC News Online (February 6, 2010).

University of Bristol. "UK domestic cat and dog population larger than thought," (February 6, 2010).

Created: 1:49 AM 11/19/2010
Last updated: 1:49 AM 11/19/2010