Like no other species they exemplify the role of companion animals. Dogs have been part of human societies for longer than any other domestic species.

This holds, despite the fact that we like to think about our dogs as human’s best friend. In this sense, the human-animal relationship is nothing we should romanticize: it comes with clear power relations and thus with a set of responsibilities on the side of those who exercise this power. This also means that animals, like those dogs we commonly refer to as our pets, are living in a “human’s world” in the sense that it is us, not them, who, to a large degree, define and manage the interactions we have with them. We are indeed living in an “animal”s world,’ in the sense that our lives are very much intertwined with the lives of animals. Humans interact with animals in numerous ways and on numerous levels. 2Unit of Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.1Unit of Ethics and Human-Animal Studies, Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.Judith Benz-Schwarzburg 1 *, Susana Monsó 1 and Ludwig Huber 2

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