When teaching children (and adults too!) about proper interactions with animals, we’re likely leaving a lot of information out of the equation. Believe it or not, animals don’t like to be petted. Sounds strange?
Let’s swap out the word “pet” for “stroke” instead. There’s an important difference between petting and stroking. When we pet an animal, most of us think of small hand movements on an animal’s fur. Think of when a playful dog approaches and we naturally rub the fur on its head, kind of like how we’d tussle the hair of a child who is familiar to us.
The thing is, animals find this kind of touch uncomfortable and it makes them nervous. Try a stroke instead. What’s a stroke? A stroke is a longer, slower hand movement that encompasses a larger area of the fur. A stroke, for example, would be a slow touch of the length of a cat, with the entire hand, from it’s head to its back end in one motion.
A stroke reminds an animal of the way its mother’s tongue licked them when they were young. Even an older animal, many years removed from its mother’s care, will react positively to this kind of instinctual touch.
It’s not uncommon for a puppy or kitten to be removed from its mother earlier than it should. There’s really no way to time stamp such things, as each animal is different. If you become the owner of a new pup or kitten assume that it was separated from its mother prematurely. You can start off on the right track by stroking it in the same way its mother would. For an animal’s development, something as simple as this can be important for its brain development and impact future relationships with other animals, strangers, and you.