This paper reviews recent developments at the intersection between culture-nature and animal geographies debates in order to consider the ways in which issues of anthropomorphism and beastliness have beset attempts to write the nonhuman. Seeking to move beyond the theoretical impasse that these two concepts have engendered, the paper explores engagement with the concept of dwelling developed by Ingold as a possible theoretical tool for a re-animated animal geography, one which seeks to take its cue from those individuals and groups whose lives depend oil and are embedded in their daily connections and understandings with nonhumans.