This project explores the relationships and power dynamics that exist between humans and animals, and specifically, their pets. The default, in my estimation, is to design from the human perspective, not taking into account how our pets feel or what they may desire. After reading ‘Exploring Interspecies Sensemaking: dog tracking semiotics and multi-species ethnography’ (Mancini et. al.), I began to think about animals’ right to privacy. This spurred me to seek an understanding of the power dynamics governing human-pet relationships. If we are trying to understand life from the perspective of our pets, we first need to understand their sphere of control and what they do with the freedom they have. We also need to understand the ways in which we exert power on them, removing choice and agency.

In my explorations, I mapped the power dynamics of my relationship with my miniature schnauzer, Stokely. This analysis focused on my exertion of power upon him, ranging from my determination of when he relieves himself to more permanent decisions I make on his behalf — like the length of his tail and whether or not he’s able to reproduce.

Although I don’t know if he views these things in a human way or cares about them in the way that we might, it is illuminating to visualize the power we as humans wield over our pets.

If you want to learn more about this work, please click here.

“An exploration of how pets exert power on their humans would also be an interesting space to explore. I was left with the following questions:

1. What would pets prefer if they had more decision-making ability?

2. What does interspecies oppression look like in the context of human and pet relationships?

3. How does this relate to animal activism and animal liberation?”

— Justin Walker