Victim Company: The Relationship Between Women and Dogs in Intimate Partner Violence Situations

Abstract

Previous research shows that women are falling victims to severe types of intimate partner violence, such as intimate terrorism, and that there is a link between this and violence against non-human animals. Dogs have a special and close relationship to humans and are therefore also often falling victims to the same violence as the women. The relationship between women and dogs, as well as the dogs’ suffering, have however not yet received much attention in research. This study aims to fill this gap by asking about the relationship’s influence on each individual (woman and dog) in intimate terrorism situations, how it impacts the decision to stay or leave and the role of emotions in the relationship while experiencing intimate terrorism. Through in-depth semi structured interviews with professionals in two fields: social-work and dog-work, the purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of women and dogs living in the context of intimate terrorism. By using content analysis, four diverse kinds of ambivalences within the relationship for the women and the dogs were found, namely: staying or leaving, love and dependence, conflicting emotions and being stuck versus moving forward. The study concludes that the relationship becomes ambivalent because of the social and societal context, and that by taking the dogs into account, a lot of issues could be solved for the well-being of both women and dogs.