THE BAD

There is a high incidence of anxious and misbehaved dogs. We have come to liken our furry pals to us so much that we sometimes fail to see that they are, in reality, dogs. We tend to misinterpret their behavior or address them incorrectly.

Think of the last time your furry pal was stressed. You probably did your best to soothe them by petting them, telling them they were a very good boy or girl and that everything was going

to be okay. Albeit effective with humans, these actions reinforce just their anxiety. Unintentionally, we are telling him it is okay to be anxious.

To illustrate more about the cons of anthropomorphism, we think hyenas are evil and scheming, like the portrayal of Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed from Lion King. We’ve come to know them as menacing, wicked, evil.

In reality, hyenas are wild

animals just trying to live another day, playing their part in the ecosystem while they’re at it. But we’ve anthropomorphized them, attributing to them uniquely-human traits.

Now, the population of hyenas are either in decline or threatened. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, one of the major reasons for the animal’s decline is persecution by humans.