This time I want to tell you how our actions in the past year will affect the future of the FCI. I am not saying it is not important to summarise our achievements and to explain why we proceeded in a certain way, but I want to talk about our future as an international organisation, but most important about the future of our dogs worldwide.

Three aspects have been transcendental during the past year; cooperation and collaboration, innovation and preparation for the future. These three aspects will lead our organisation for the next year.

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Rafael de Santiago
FCI President
Scientific research answers the question
Child’s best friends: pets or siblings???

Source: Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Volume 49, March–April 2017, Pages 12–20
Matthew T Casselsa, Naomi Whiteb, Nancy Geec, Claire Hughesb
One of the family? Measuring young adolescents' relationships with pets and siblings
 a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
b Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
c WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, Waltham on the Wolds, UK

Abstract

Pets are common but their importance to children and early adolescents has received scant empirical attention. This is partly due to a lack of tools for measuring child-pet relationships. The first aim of the present study (involving 77 12-year-olds) was to evaluate a pet adaptation of an established measure of human relationship quality, the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI). Next, we applied the NRI to examine how pet relationship quality varies with pet type and participant's gender, and to compare participants' relationships with pets and with siblings. Results showed that girls reported more disclosure, companionship, and conflict with their pet than did boys, while dog owners reported greater satisfaction and companionship with their pet than did owners of other pets. Highlighting the importance of early adolescents' pet relationships, participants derived more satisfaction and engaged in less conflict with their pets than with their siblings.

© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


According to the study, children get more satisfaction from relationships with their pets than with their brothers or sisters and, apparently, also get on better with their pet that with siblings.

The survey is based on reports from 12-year-old children from 77 families having at least one child and one pet.

  • Kids described their relationships with their pets as stronger and more satisfactory than the one with their siblings.
  • Pet owners get higher satisfaction and better companionship from their dog than from any other pet.

The survey’s conclusions provide yet another set of results supporting the idea that pets are important in child development, their social skills and emotional intelligence.

How many of us remind to have turned to our dog on some occasion in order to find their silent and non-judgemental solace?

Marie Luna Durán
FCI Marketing and Public Relations Manager