An antidote to “armageddon and potential doom”: accounts of canine-human companionship during Covid-19

Though the anthropause of Covid-19 was peculiarly human-centric, it also brought into sharp relief our more-than-human world. Canine-human companionship can support human mental and physical wellbeing in ‘normal’ times, but this article explores the pandemic as a unique context for animal/human relations. I interrogate the pandemic component of the Dog Talking and Walking Project online survey (n = 673), and subsequent interviews (n = 41). A novel two-step qualitative data analysis comprised, firstly, examining participants’ written qualitative survey accounts about how Covid catalysed canine companionship, and descriptions of how canine closeness attenuated losses. Secondly, I explore key interview themes: ‘closeness’ of canine companionship; dogs as ‘mediator’ in families; and dogs as ‘moderator’ of the impacts of the pandemic. The analysis offers an important counter to the speciesism and anthropocentrism embedded in our recollections of Covid times. Methodologically, I suggest that qualitative surveys alongside the traditional interview can yield richer understandings of more-than-human relationships.