Like most of his other prints, such as "Beer Street" and "Gin Lane", Hogarth wanted "The Four Stages of Cruelty" to be a warning against cruel and evil acts, and that it was easy for a small bully to become a criminal. He wished to stop "that barbarous (mean) treatment of animals, the very sight of which renders (makes) the streets of our metropolis so distressing (terrible) to every feeling mind". Hogarth loved animals. When he painted a portrait of himself, he included his pug in the picture. He also marked the graves of his dogs and birds at his home in Chiswick.