Apathetic Pet

In fiction, as well as in real life, people like to guess that animals do enjoy being around their humans. While there's a lot of scientific debate on the relationship between humans and their pets, and whether animals truly "love" their humans or if that's just anthropomorphism, there's a general consensus that many pets at least have an attachment to their humans.

This occurs when that's not the case.

The pet animal isn't particularly attached to their owner. They might look down upon them and see them as nothing but a free meal or they might not just consider their owner on the same level as they do their own species. "It" Is Dehumanizing might even be in usage. Pet cats in particular are prone to this trope because Cats Are Superior.

It might be a sign of a Loser Protagonist or a Butt-Monkey if their pet, especially ones that are usually loyal like dogs, don't respect them. Sometimes, however, the pet may end up respecting its owner more.

This contrasts with the Loyal Animal Companion, who will do anything for their owner. It also is generally a more intense version of This Is My Human. The pet may think that Humans Are Bastards. It may also result in an Unsuccessful Pet Adoption if the owner decides the pet just isn't right for them (or the other way around).

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Black Clover has Nero, a magic-hating bird who becomes Asta's Head Pet after taking a liking to his complete lack of magical power. Despite this, he constantly pecks at Asta's head, never shows him any real affection, and is generally disinterested in most affairs until he's actually needed.
• Pokémon: The Original Series:
  • In the first episode, Pikachu has no respect for Ash due to just being a novice trainer. He laughs at him whenever he makes a mistake and refuses to obey his orders. He comes to respect him after he saves him from a flock of Spearow.
  • Once Charmander becomes Charmeleon, it increasingly ignores Ash's commands. When it becomes Charizard, it almost completely stops following Ash's orders, even costing him a championship match because it refuses to fight the other Pokémon. Eventually, it returns to being loyal to Ash after it regains respect for its trainer.
• Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl:
  • After Swinub becomes Piloswine (and later a Mamoswine), he becomes more of a jerk. He ignores Dawn's commands and only obeys her when he's bribed in some way. He even attacks her a few times. He overcomes this in "Trials and Adulations!" when Dawn helps heal his injuries, though he still retains a small rebellious streak.
  • In "Tanks for the Memories!", Autumn's Miltank named Ilta is noted to ignore almost everything Autumn says and would rather laze around than help. This is somewhat justified, as Autumn has just caught her, and Brock helps Autumn earn Ilta's trust. Ilta becomes more obedient towards Autumn after she protects her from a swarm of Beedrill.
• Pokémon the Series: Black & White: Excadrill usually ignores his trainer Iris and spends most of his time curled up in "drilling" pose. This is later subverted when it's revealed that he only ignores Iris because he's afraid of disappointing her, and he becomes obedient to her again after they make amends with each other.
• Pokémon the Series: XY: It's noted that Froakie has gone through several trainers because he would either disobey them so much that they'd bring him back to Professor Sycamore, or he'd run away and go back to Professor Sycamore himself. He averts this trope in regards to Ash when he decides that Ash is the right trainer for him.

Fan Works

• The Bolt Chronicles: Subverted in "The Blood Brother." Under the influence of his toxic friend Duke, Bolt thinks the newly adopted Mittens may be standoffish and ungrateful towards her new family. In fact, Mittens is struggling with trust issues (as her previous family mistreated and abandoned her) and is having trouble adjusting to being in a domestic circumstance again. Fortunately, Bolt figures this out eventually.
• In Warriors Rewrite, it's mentioned that Rusty Jumped at the Call to become a forest cat because he always felt uncomfortable being around humans and being a housepet.

Films — Animation

• All Dogs Go to Heaven: Charlie, sort of. Anne-Marie calls him her dog at one point, and initially, he only keeps her around so he can use her for winning money at bets. He ultimately ditches this trope when he actually comes to care about her. He even sacrifices himself to save her.
• Lilo & Stitch: Initially, Stitch only allows Lilo to adopt him as her pet so that he can hide from Jumba and he uses her as a shield at one point, something that even Jumba objects to. Stitch ends up ditching this trope, however, when he genuinely grows close to her.
• Open Season: Mr. Weenie initially wants to get away from his owners, and when he meets the forest critters, he rips off his clothes and admits he's been living a lie all this time. When one of his owners, Bobbie, finds him in the second movie, he's not very happy about going with her. He overcomes this when he realizes how much she loves him and that he loves her, too.

Films — Live Action

• In Alien, Jonesy the cat sits and watches Brett get eaten by the alien.
• In Clerks, Lenin's Tomb (the cat living at the store) looks on disinterestedly as Dante and Randall have an epic fight through the store.
• Played with in the Jurassic World films, specifically Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. While the Velociraptors were not Owen's pets, they were trained and practically raised by him. The majority of them maintained their killer instincts and would attack or threaten Owen when he pretended to be in distress, uncaring that he was their caregiver. This was subverted with Blue, being the only raptor to show empathy and emotion towards her caregiver.

Jokes

• A well-known joke has a dog think "they love, feed and shelter me... they must be gods!", while a cat thinks "they love, feed and shelter me... I must be a god!"

Literature

• Bad Kitty: Kitty is often indifferent to her owner (the narrator) and isn't afraid to attack him for any perceived slight. In Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty, it's revealed that this is because she used to be a kind kitten until he adopted her. She was furious that she had to leave her mother and became the crabby cat that we all know today.
• Captain Underpants: In "Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers", Kipper and his goons read a comic book made by younger George and Harold. In the comic, several bullies get cursed by Wedgie Magee's haunted pants. One of them comments that his armpits are burning, and his cat dryly comments that he's been haunted. The pants appear just then and eat the boy alive, and his cat just shrugs it off and goes to sleep.
• Downplayed in Cat Pack. The cats are attached to their owners but at the same time, they believe that Cats Are Superior and that they'd do fine on their own if only they could open their own food cans.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: When Frank adopts Sweetie in "Dog Days", Sweetie doesn't get along much with the other members of the family. The only one he shows much affection to is Susan, and she doesn't pay him a lot of attention either. Sweetie is afraid of Frank and can be a nuisance to Greg. This ends up being the reason why the Heffleys give him to Gramma.
• Downplayed in Doglands. Many dogs do love their owners in their own way, but it doesn't equal the love they feel towards one another. Their owners aren't their equal and they're more like caretakers than friends.
• How to Train Your Dragon: It's noted that dragons can't really feel love for humans and that they're never grateful for what their owners do for them. Toothless later overcomes this; when Hiccup is nearly eaten by the Green Death, Toothless remembers how kind Hiccup was to him and risks his life to save Hiccup.
• Cats in Tailchaser's Song generally look down upon humans (or "m'an" and "the Big Ones" as they're called), with many outright being reviled by them. Cats that live with humans think of humans as their servants, not their friends. Hushpad seems to be an outside cat, bordering on being a stray, but she only refers to her owner as "the m'an". She doesn't mind being coddled by children but prefers to either keep to herself or be around other cats.
• This generally applies with cats in Warriors. Many former kittypets leave their owners without much thought, though some grow attached to their "housefolk". Rusty, the original lead who would later be known as Firestar, was born and raised a pet but took the Call to Adventure without a second thought for his owners and didn't once worry about leaving them.

Live-Action TV

• Throughout Married... with Children, the Bundy's family dog Buck's mental voice frequently made clear his disdain for the deadbeat family he was stuck with. In one episode, he is sent to get help after Al and Bud get lost in the woods, he goes home and leaves them to their fate. When Buck finally passed away, he is tried in heaven for his past Jerkassery (though not towards the Bundys, the judge was a cat), and, as a Cool and Unusual Punishment, is reincarnated as the Bundys' new puppy, Lucky.

Newspaper Comics

• Dilbert: Dogbert frequently pushes Dilbert around and shows contempt towards him (and by extension, humans in general). When the situation calls for it, though, Dogbert will bail Dilbert out.
• Some The Far Side comics have dogs debating the pros and cons of murdering their owner: in one case, there'll be no more treats, but there'll be no more "Fetch the stick, boy!"
• Garfield:
  • In this strip◊, Garfield is watching Lassie Come Home. A person on the TV calls out for Lassie to come home, and she just says, "Make me."
  • This trope is deconstructed in this 1989 arc◊ when Garfield sees a future where his house is completely empty and he realizes that, after all these years of taking Jon's care for granted, what he truly fears is loneliness. When he snaps out of it, he gives Jon a big hug and says that he doesn't need breakfast, he needs Jon.
• Peanuts: Snoopy is an independently-minded dog who barely acknowledges Charlie Brown as his owner unless he wants to be fed. He doesn't even refer to Charlie Brown by name, only as "the round-headed kid." He does show that he cares for Charlie Brown from time to time, moreso in animated productions.

Video Games

• Fire Emblem Fates: Sophie's horse Avel doesn't seem to like her back and he rarely ever obeys her. He often throws her off himself and bites her hair.
• Pokémon: It is possible for a Pokémon to disobey their trainers if it has been traded and they don't have the right amount of badges (which varies based on their levels).

Web Animation

• Dorkly Originals:
  • Yoshi resents Mario for not being grateful about how Yoshi and his kind have taken care of him since he was a baby. In "If Mario and Yoshi Switched Places", he forces Mario to be his mount for once and jumps over a pit, which causes Mario to fall into it. When it's revealed that a pile of dead Yoshis cushioned his fall, Yoshi is flabbergasted and annoyed.
  • In "Charizard's Revenge", Charizard gets revenge on Ash for keeping him in a Poké Ball by breathing fire at him, viciously mauling him, and catching him with a Poké Ball.

Western Animation

• Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!: Downplayed, as Scooby and Shaggy still have a close friendship, but the 14th episode shows that Scooby often has no qualms about ditching Shaggy if they're both in danger.
• Bob's Burgers: In "It Snakes a Village", Helen loves her chihuahua Bitsy, but it's implied the feeling isn't mutual. When she says she's going to put him in a little suit, the first thing he does is run back into the forest. Then it's shown that he's gained a friendship with a snake.
• Feast: Winston initially sees his owner Kirby as nothing more than a way to get meals, and this is symbolized by having Kirby be The Faceless. Part of his Character Development is realizing how much Kirby really means to him.
• Played with for Futurama, as Nibbler is in fact The Mole and a highly intelligent surveyor who is pretending to be Leela's dumb pet. His role largely consists of playing this however as his persona is frequently destructive, gluttonous, and never breaks character to help the crew when they are in danger. It's never quite made clear whether it is down to being this trope for real or just taking his role a bit too seriously.
• Jelly Jamm: Subverted in "Rita Adopts a Dodo". Rita takes home a dodo named Gochilla, who's afraid of her until she gives him some jelly-berries. Near the end of the episode, he runs off and she briefly thinks he never really loved her until he comes back a moment later, revealing that he was just going to get two glasses of water.
• The Mighty B!: In the pilot episode "So Happy Together", Bessie takes Happy the Dog to her house against his will. He tries to escape several times, but Bessie keeps this from happening until she realizes he'd rather be free. When she tells him he can leave, he wastes no time in doing so. He ditches this trope and later goes back to her after he feels guilty about leaving her.
• PAW Patrol: Sweetie appears to be neutral to her owner, the Princess of Barkingburg, and she has no qualms with manipulating her. In "Mission PAW: Pups Save the Royal Throne", she floats off on a throne using balloons so she can rule somewhere else and she doesn't seem to miss the Princess (though the latter definitely misses her). However, she draws the line at the Princess being in danger, as shown in "Jet to the Rescue", when she decides to help the PAW Patrol save her owner.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Mr. Mojo's Rising", Mojo Jojo is revealed to have been Professor Utonium's pet chimp and lab assistant before he became an Uplifted Animal. Though Mojo remembers being helpful to the Professor, as it turns out, Mojo never helped him and was just a destructive, rowdy troublemaker.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • Depending on the Writer, Gary the Snail can be this. Certain episodes portray him as not particularly concerned about his owner SpongeBob and only really being able to enjoy himself when he is away. Subverted in "Gary's New Toy", where Gary initially cares more about his new ball than SpongeBob and just continues playing with it and watching TV after SpongeBob says he is going to leave forever, only to want SpongeBob back when he realizes that his actions drove him away and he really is gone.
  • Spongebob had two of these in the episode “Dumped.” Rex was a worm who ran away from Spongebob and Lary was a snail with a rude and unpleasant personality.
• Strawberry Shortcake: In the Berry Bitty Adventures series episode "Fish Out of Water", Tad the frog is implied to not care that much about Orange Blossom. When Orange decides to set him free, he immediately makes a beeline for the lake without even saying goodbye to her, something that she comments on. She decides not to get too upset about it because she just wants Tad to be happy.
• Tig 'n Seek: Tiggy's cat Gweeseek is supposed to be a genius, yet spends most of her time doing typical cat stuff — batting things off ledges, lying on sunbeams, that sort of thing. She mostly ignores Tiggy's commands and often does things that impede their missions. Once an Episode, however, Gweeseek will build a device out of random junk to help Tiggy. Whether she's Obfuscating Stupidity or genuinely apathetic towards Tiggy unless he's in real danger is left unclear.

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