Dog Walking Fieldwork

Introduction

As a child, I’ve always wanted to own a pet, however my parents did not allow me, so I did not gain the experience or knowledge of owning one. Nonetheless, I still kept the fascination of owning a pet like a dog. One day, while walking in a park, I saw a person looking joyful while walking their dog, and as an anthropology student, this intrigued me in wanted to find out the symbols, and what of the symbols represents in dog walking.

Research Question and Theoretical Framework

The research question that is being investigated is: What are the symbols and their meaning in dog walking?

The investigation, I will be analyzing the data obtained from the fieldwork with the theory and ideas of Clifford Geertz, such as using thick description and a semiotic perspective to interpret what was observed, which then in turn will allow me to figure out the meaning in the symbols of dog walking.

Methodology

The fieldwork of this investigation was done at High Park, 1873

This is because on the weekend, there is no school and more days off on the weekend, meaning that there are more people at the park. How I conducted my fieldwork was that for both Saturday and Sunday, at the time of 1pm to 3pm, I did my non-participant observations. This time was chosen as it is the time with the most visitors, as said by Google Maps. During the fieldwork, I sat on a bench that was near the dog park that was located in High Park, and I had my phone out to write observations. What I wrote when I saw someone walking a dog were detailed observations, such as the gender of the participant, their facial expression, body language and if the dog was leashed or not. When writing the observations, an attempt to write them using the technique of thick description was used, where one provides enough of the context of the action/symbol so that someone outside the culture, such as myself, could understand the meaning of