All rights reserved 2023 application/pdf 200234 bytes Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between the expressed intensity of fear of animals among future preschool teachers with owning pet animals in childhood or in adulthood. The survey included 135 respondents, future preschool teachers, from two countries, Serbia and Slovenia. A questionnaire and an assessment scale were used as research instruments. According to the results, of all the animals in the offered sample, the respondents were most afraid of the snake, crocodile, wolf and lion. There was no statistically significant difference between the estimates of the respondents from Serbia and Slovenia in terms of showing greater fear towards the mentioned animal species. Owning a pet in childhood, or in adulthood, was not statistically significantly related to the intensity of the overall fear, neither certain animal species fear expressed. Apart from parents, preschool teachers represent an important model who can influence the relationships and experience that children build and adopt towards animals. That is why it is very important that future preschool teachers show calmness, consistency and proper treatment of animals, even if they feel fear or discomfort towards them. info:eu-repo/semantics/article https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:35411 doi:10.15516/cje.v26i2.5109 ISSN: 1848-5189 The Importance of Pets in Owercoming Future Preschool Teachers Fears of Animals in Order to Increase the Quality of Education Važnost kućnih ljubimaca u svladavanju straha od životinja budućih odgojitelja s ciljem povećanja kvalitete obrazovanja Zagreb: Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu Miščević, Gordana eng Croatian Journal of Education volume: 26 number: 2 startpage: 423 endpage: 444 Key words: attitude towards animals; behavioural patterns; model learning; natural sciences; pedagogical interventions.