Autoethnographical explorations of the attachment to dogs in cultural contexts

The relationship between humans and dogs is specifically influenced by human personality and sociocultural background. It is affected by conscious and unconscious dynamics in private and public spaces and varies based on own identity, (racial) background and how it is and has been perceived and dealt with historically and in contemporary society. Methodologically, this article uses a collaborative intercultural positive autoethnography approach (IcPosAE) to describe the experiences of the authors–a mother and her son–with dogs. Childhood experiences with pets, discourses regarding getting a dog and attachment to their dog are described, and the authors’ understandings of experiences with dogs in public spaces in Germany, Australia and South Africa are discussed. Findings show that the authors’ attachment to dogs, based on their lived experiences at individual and collective levels, is strongly influenced by belonging to specific sociocultural and racial groups in South Africa, which define to a large extent how humans and pets interact with each other in public. The authors demonstrate how the interpretations of behaviour are shaped through racialised individual experiences and racial bias in interactions between humans and dogs in public. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are provided regarding ways in which human–pet relationships can support the reconstruction of sociocultural interactions for members of different racial groups constructively mediated through human–canine interaction.