Abstract

Companion animals tangibly alter our experience of domestic spaces and influence our feelings about home. The Georgian era is well-established as a crucible of British domesticity, and animal historians identify the eighteenth-century as a pivotal moment in the development of ‘modern’ pet ownership. How did emotionally and physically intimate relationships between people and dogs affect their shared domestic spaces during this moment of flux? The experiences of dog owners and their acquaintances, as recorded in diaries and correspondence, testify to the ‘canification’ of the elite eighteenth-century home: people modified their homes to reflect their companions’ status within the household, just as dogs made their own mark on their home environment. The elevated position enjoyed by dogs in some Georgian homes is demonstrated by their ‘ownership’ of objects within the household, evidenced by wills, inventories, and canine material culture itself. However, this mode of dog ownership remained controversial and was frequently represented as emotionally and financially excessive. Critics targeted the elite dog’s privileged position within the home, finding their access to human objects and spaces indicative of their owners’ preference for canine company above their obligations to other humans — be they spouses, offspring or servants. Only by considering the eighteenth-century elite household as a multi-species domestic space and taking account of both human and non-human experiences of the home (and real or imagined representations of such experiences) can the development of British domesticity and, later, the formation of societally-approved ideals of pet ownership, be fully appreciated.

摘要

伴侣动物切实地改变了我们对家庭空间的体验，并影响了我们对家的感觉。乔治亚时代被公认为英国家庭生活的熔炉，动物历史学家将 18 世纪视为“现代”宠物所有权发展的关键时刻。在这个不断变化的时刻，人和狗之间情感和身体上的亲密关系如何影响他们共享的家庭空间？记录在日记和信件中的狗主人及其熟人的经历证明了 18 世纪精英家庭的“圣化”：人们改造自己的房屋以反映他们的同伴在家庭中的地位，就像狗造自己一样标记他们的家庭环境。狗在格鲁吉亚的一些家庭中享有较高的地位，这体现在它们对家庭内物品的“所有权”上，意志、存货和犬类物质文化本身就是证明。然而，这种养狗模式仍然存在争议，并且经常被认为在情感和经济上过度。批评者针对精英犬在家庭中的特权地位，发现它们对人类物品和空间的访问表明它们的主人更喜欢犬类陪伴，而不是对其他人类的义务——无论是配偶、后代还是仆人。