Pets in the Family System
Genogram that includes family pets: pet symbols, adoption years, pet loss, a divorce and a teenager’s attachment to a rescue dog.
Interactive Pets in the Family System
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About This Genogram
A three-generation genogram of a fictional family that includes four companion animals: a dog who stayed with the father after the divorce and died in 2024, the mother’s cat, the grandmother’s therapy dog and a rescue dog adopted by an anxious teenager. Shows pet symbols, the year each pet joined, a divorce and a cohabiting stepfather.
How to Read This Genogram
A family structure genogram maps household composition and biological or legal relationships across at least three generations using a standardized set of structural lines. Solid horizontal lines between two symbols indicate a committed partnership or marriage; a single diagonal slash through that line marks a separation, and a double slash marks a divorce. Children descend from the couple line on vertical drops, and their birth order runs left to right. Dashed lines or dotted horizontal connectors indicate step, foster, or adoptive bonds, so that a reader can distinguish biological parentage from the household arrangement in which a child was actually raised.
Reading a family structure genogram begins at the top generation and moves downward, noting who forms each household at each generational level. The key questions are: Which children grew up together? Which adults held parenting roles, and were those roles biological, legal, or both? Where do the generational boundaries fall? Households that contain members from more than one biological line, or that skip a generation, stand out visually and prompt the clinician to ask how those arrangements shaped each member's experience of family. Structure alone does not explain behavior, but it establishes the relational architecture on which emotional patterns are later mapped.
Key Patterns in This Genogram
Family Structure
How this family structure is represented using standard genogram notation.
Relationship Patterns
Key relationship dynamics and emotional bonds within the family system.
Clinical Application
How professionals use this type of genogram in assessment and treatment.
Family Analysis
Cole Bell (15) was referred for anxiety after the death of Duke, the family’s Labrador, in 2024. Duke had been part of the family since Cole was a baby and stayed with his father Marcus after his parents divorced in 2022. For Cole, Duke was the one constant between two homes.
The genogram shows pets across three generations. Cole’s grandmother Gwen got a therapy dog, Biscuit, the year after her husband Harold died in 2019. His mother Tanya, a veterinary technician, kept her cat Pepper and now lives with her partner Luis. After Duke died, Cole adopted Rocky from a shelter; the green attachment line between them marks a bond that has helped him settle.
For teaching, the example shows how animals can carry attachment, comfort and grief in a family system, and how a clinician can use them as a way into conversations that are harder to start about people: the divorce, the grandfather’s death and the move between homes.
Build a Similar Genogram
A practitioner documenting a family similar to this one would typically record three generations of household composition, significant life events such as births, deaths, marriages, and separations, any relevant medical or mental health history, and the quality of key relationships between members. That information comes from a combination of the client's verbal account, intake questionnaires, and, where available, collateral records. The completed diagram captures both the factual structure of the family and the practitioner's clinical observations about relational patterns, making it a reference that can be shared across disciplines or reviewed at future stages of treatment.
GenogramAI's AI genogram generator allows you to build a diagram like this one from a plain-language description of the family. You type or paste a narrative, such as the basic structure and any key relationships or health history you want to include, and the AI parses that text, places the correct symbols, draws the appropriate relationship lines, and arranges the layout automatically. The result is a fully editable diagram that you can refine, annotate, and export for clinical records or educational use. Try the AI genogram creator to generate your own genogram from a text description in seconds.
Genogram Symbols Used in This Example
The following standard genogram symbols appear in the Pets in the Family System. Each symbol follows McGoldrick and Gerson clinical notation conventions.
Person Symbols
- Male (Square)
- A square represents a male family member.
- Female (Circle)
- A circle represents a female family member.
- Pet (dotted diamond)
- A small dotted diamond represents a companion animal, linked to its owner by a pet line that can carry the year it joined the family.
- Index person (highlighted outline)
- The person at the centre of the assessment is drawn with a highlighted outline.
- Deceased (X)
- An X through the symbol marks a person who has died; birth and death years are written above it.
- Age inside the symbol
- The current age (or age at death) is written inside each symbol, with years above it.
Couples
- Marriage
- A solid line between partners; the marriage year is written on the line (m 90 = married 1990).
- Divorce
- Two slashes across the couple line mark a divorce, with the year (d 02).
- Widowed
- A small x on the couple line marks the end of a marriage through death (wid 15).
- Cohabitation
- A dashed couple line marks partners who live together without marrying.
Emotional Relationships
- Conflict
- Dashed red double lines mark open conflict.
- Attachment
- A green beaded line marks a secure attachment bond, here between a child and a pet.
Medical
- Medical shading
- The left half of a symbol is shaded for a physical or mental illness and the bottom half for alcohol or drug use; each condition has its own colour, listed in the key. Hatching means suspected, a partial fill means in recovery.
Related Resources
- Pet loss is part of genograms in grief counseling.
- Marcus and Tanya’s line uses the divorce symbol.
- New to genograms? Start with a simple genogram example.
- See all genogram relationship lines.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are pets drawn on a genogram?
Why include pets?
What happens to pets in a divorce genogram?
Can pets have their own dates?
Related Genogram Examples
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Single Parent Family Genogram
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Three-Generation Household
A multigenerational Chinese-American family genogram illustrating three generations living under one roof.
Create Your Own Genogram
Use GenogramAI to build your own family genogram with AI assistance. Describe your family and let AI do the rest.
Educational disclaimer: This genogram example is an educational illustration of genogram notation and family systems concepts. Examples based on public figures use publicly available information. They are not clinical documents. All examples are intended for learning genogram symbols and patterns.