The Pitch sits down with pet author and advocate, Mark Cushing

Talkin’ dogs, baby.

Over the last twenty years, our relationship to our pets has changed drastically, bringing them into our co-working offices, coffee shops, bookstores, and record stores. Mark Cushing went to find out why. Cushing, the founder of Animal Policy Group and a specialist in animal welfare and veterinary education issues, has a long history of working with government regulations to improve the lives and health of the country’s domestic animals.

In his new book, Pet Nation: The Love Affair That Changed America, Cushing covers the changing treatment of our furry friends in our home lives, and their growing dominance in many new human spaces.

In his quest to write about pets, Cushing ended up finding out a lot more about people, he says. “I make it pretty simple that, you know, dogs still chase balls and cats still chase string. They didn’t change. And they didn’t demand that their living circumstances be improved, and that they be treated like kings and queens and sleep in their beds in the home. We just brought that on, you know, we opened the door and said, “Come on!” And that interested me the most, I think what happened was the act of bringing pets indoors.”

One of the reasons we love our pets so much is simple human biology. Cushing explains: “We know that it triggers an increase in oxytocin and a decrease in cortisol in your brain, which makes you happier and less stressed. If you’re with a pet that does the same thing for that. I think people began to see the potential.”

When asked if humans could learn a thing or two about treating each other how animals treat other animals, Cushing chuckled.

“So a dog’s gonna teach you that if you say ‘yes’ to people a lot they probably like you better. If you’re not disagreeable and if you basically go along with them. Now, that doesn’t always work, but you probably [would] have more friends in this world, if you were more like a dog. You’d have more power in this world if you more like a cat. 

It’s cats [that] could teach you what is often a very powerful negotiating tool. And I negotiate for a living and my day job. In the animal world, silence can be a very powerful technique. Somebody says, “Okay, here’s my offer,” and you just look at them. And you don’t say a word and makes that person usually very uncomfortable.” 

From the sounds of Cushing’s book, our embrace of pets into our human lives is going to only increase from here.