The Notions of Welfare and Quality of Life

Animal welfare is a complex subject whose scope goes far beyond the objectives of this book. In our profession as caregivers, our main objective is to improve the quality of life of the animal and its owner in order to achieve a harmonious and good quality relationship. By defining animal welfare from Maslow’s pyramid, we are led to distinguish between farm animals and pets. The notion of a captive animal does not seem relevant for the dog, which has been domesticated for more than 30 millennia. On the other hand, the search for psychologically balanced individuals must be based on the adequacy between the developmental environment and the final environment of life. Breed selection has a significant impact on the welfare of pet dogs. The role of the practitioner should go as far as an assessment of this welfare, and we need to build recommendations for a consultation dedicated to this evaluation.