Do your pets have a different relationship with everyone in your household?

We have two cats. One was raised in this household and was my son's cat, but she took to me. I think probably because I was the nicest to her. My ex husband and our three boys tended to be more rough with her and she doesn't like to be handled. I just talk to her nicely and pet her on her terms, so I've always figured that's why she took to me. She still (at age 15) doesn't like to be held, but follows me around the house and talks to me, sits near me when I'm working. She is tolerant of my new husband but she doesn't follow him around, or seek attention from him.

My husbands cat is an attention hog so she'll actually be friendly with anyone who sits still long enough. I feel a bit badly, though, that even though she's my "husband's" cat (she came to live here last May, when we got married.) if he and I are both sitting on the sofa she'll choose my lap over his. I don't know why, because he's super loving toward her and much more tolerant of being licked by her.

Funny, though, how they tend to pick one person. My brother and his family used to have four cats, and each one of them picked a different human in the house to bond with. I guess it worked out well...every cat got its own human, and every human got its own cat!

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(08-18-2013, 10:19 AM)cg303 Wrote: I would say my dog is the same around all the family members in the house. Though he is very protective of the kids . If he hears screaming or yelling from them playing he runs to see what they are doing. Even though they play rough he does not like it when he feels one is being hurt he will jump and bark at the person . Not knowing they are playing . My kids have learned to tell the dog its ok so he can calm down. As for me the dog follows me to the trash can around the house I have no idea why. He just likes to follow me. He is the child that I always wanted he can't talk back!

Our dog used to do that, too. We raised three boys and they loved (still do) to rough house. It kind of made her bonkers...she didn't know which one of her boys to defend! Man, I miss that dog!!! If I could be guaranteed of getting another one as wonderful as she was (okay, well, the first five years were kind of rough as she grew out of puppy stage!) I'd get another dog.