Attachment to Caprine Companions: Implications for Social Work Practice

The attachment bond between people and their pets has been studied extensively to determine the role it may play in human health and well-being. Using attachment theory in human relationships, human-animal studies have examined attachment relationships based on four criteria: 1) proximity maintenance – wanting to be close to the animal, 2) safe haven – relieving distress and providing comfort and support, 3) secure base – providing a sense of security leading to risk-taking and self-development, and 4) separation distress when the animal is either temporarily or permanently unavailable.¹ These studies have focused on animals typically kept as pets such as dogs, cats, birds, and horses. No known studies have examined attachment relationships between people and farm animals.

This preliminary study explores attachment in the human-goat relationship. The study used a 23-question survey on the surveymonkey.com website. A convenient sample of 392 goat owners was recruited through Yahoo discussion groups and email invitations to goat farms and goat associations. The survey included participant demographics, types and numbers of goats, reasons for having goats, and the person’s perceived attachment to the goats. Respondents from 46 U.S. states, the United Kingdom, and Australia participated. They were mostly female (85.3%) with an average age of 49 years. Nearly 97% reported feeling emotionally attached to all or some of their goats. This study examines the open-ended responses to questions asking people to explain their attachment to their goats, the positive and negative aspects of having goats, and stories about their goats. Perceived attachment was examined by conducting a text analysis of these responses and categorizing them according to the four attachment criteria.

The analysis found that responses corresponded to all four attachment criteria. Proximity maintenance included responses such as “We enjoy the company of the goats themselves”. Safe haven included responses such as “I have a stressful job and my goats are like therapy for me”. Secure base was demonstrated with responses such as “They teach the children responsibility. It has also given them more self-confidence to be able to go in front of people and speak”. Separation distress was expressed with statements such as “When my favorite goat died, it was more of a loss than when my mother died”.

Attachment has important implications for health and well-being, especially when a beloved animal dies. Human empathy, understanding, and support are critical when a significant attachment figure has been lost, regardless of the species, Providing empathy and understanding of the human-goat relationship can be an important role for social workers.

¹ Zilcha-Mano, S., Mikulincer, M., and Shaver, P.R. “An attachment perspective on human–pet relationships: Conceptualization and assessment of pet attachment orientations”. Journal of Research in Personality 45 (2011) 345–357.

Lee Zasloff has been studying human-animal relationships for over 20 years. She served as the associate director of the Center for Animals in Society at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine from 1992 to 1999. Currently, she teaches psychology at two Sacramento area community colleges while continuing to be involved in human-animal interactions research. Her research has addressed topics such as animals as a source of social support, attachment to different species, and relationships with farm animals. Lee lives in the foothills of northern California with 3 cats, 1 maltapoo, four pygora goats, and one 200-pound Suffolk sheep.