Peoples' Relationships With Their Dogs

I know a woman who has her entire office filled with pictures of her dogs. She has six of them. I know another woman who has a modest income, but who spends thousands on expensive medical care for the rescue dogs she serially adopts. I've noticed during my frequent travels, that the dogs brought into the airplane as "therapy" dogs, are becoming suspiciously more like pets whose owners believe they should be accepted where ever they go. About anyone can call their pet a therapy dog - and I am certain the owners rely a great deal upon their dogs to fill a void in their lives. I hear people talking about their dogs with more joy and love than they would talk about a spouse, child or other family member.

I have a theory about this growing phenomenon, but I would like to hear your thoughts.

 

I'd better sit this one out?

 

I guess you never watched Lassie or Old Yeller. Dogs have always been human.

I've never heard of therapy dogs. The only exceptions I see in businesses are for seeing-eye dogs.

 

I did get a huge charge out of a "cat adoption" service that was offered online. They show you photos of cats they've rescued. You then "adopt" a cat and send the owner money.

What a scam!!! I about died laughing, And for a time it was working.

 

I'm certainly not obsessed with my dog but have found them very comforting in times of difficulty. If you think about it they can't really say anything to upset you... it's the ultimate BFF but without the unsolicited advice.
Besides I think having to care for something/someone takes the focus of yourself and makes you happier.

 

Dogs should be allowed everywhere humans go, apart from restaurants and hospitals. They've been our closest companion creatures for thousands of years. We are almost not fully human without them.

Having said that, I'm not surrounded by photos of my dogs. Dog people usually aren't cat people .. and cat people are the strange ones.

 

On the contrary, I grew up with them. The Rin Tin Tin line of dogs were bred on a ranch in my town. I absolutely love dogs, don't get me wrong. But Lassie, Old Yeller, Rin Tin Tin, and Old Dan / Little Ann (Where the Red Fern Grows) were all working dogs.

I don't know how you have avoided the emotional service animal (ESA) or "therapy dog" phenomenon. They are nothing like a trained dog for the blind. They are usually well-behaved pet dogs that for reasons of emotional support, a person may take everywhere with them. Often people with PTSD or anxiety disorders have them. They are allowed in the workplace, in the restaurants, in the grocery stores -- anywhere their person goes. Anyone can have their beloved dog registered as an ESA or service dog. Just fill out a form, buy a harness, and you're good to go.

The growing numbers of ESAs make me wonder if they are a grown-ups version of a teddy bear.
One notch above a safe space.

 

Addiction to dogs. Easy to happen.

I am addicted to cats.

 

Tomorrow I'll tell you my theory.

 

They have their place provided they're kept in it. I don't think they should be lifestyle accessories - dogs are (relatively speaking) intelligent creatures and subconsciously need to have a meaningful existence. And as to 'lifestyle accessories', I fail to understand why anyone would want an animal unless for companionship, or a lifestyle aid.

 

My theory is that so many people are such shallow rotten creatures that dog people are giving up on them. I don't blame them.

 

But they were human. I can't begin to tell you how many times Lassie ran for help, or warned that a fire was approaching, or showed Jimmy where he left his grandmothers medicine. She was smarter than most the humans on the show.

 

I love dogs, but this stuff goes too far. I think the "therapy dogs" are the biggest con out there, and I'm afraid people are going to get hurt by this, and the backlash will fall on real service animals. I also think pets are becoming short-lived child surrogates.

 

If all dogs (and dog owners) were trained properly I would agree with dogs being allowed to go wherever humans go. The problem is almost no dogs (or their owners) are trained properly in terms of walking in public. It takes time and discipline to do that properly, and I've seen too many people that are too soft-hearted to have properly trained dogs.

 

I think that is true for some. Perhaps the dog owner is a shallow rotten person but the loving dog doesn't know it.

 

Returning home from a walk the day before yesterday, with the temperature in the high 20s, I saw some cretin 'exercising' his dogs (2 of them) from the saddle of his bike. The poor bloody things were having trouble keeping up and were severely distressed. The last time I witnessed that same practice the elderly dog was dead when I reached the scene, probably from a heart attack.

 

That's sort of a shitty thing to do.

"We captured your ancestors, forced you to interbreed so you show prime examples of horrible mutations, and have kept you in emotional/Physical servitude for at least a millennia, and you can't be in here, get the **** out."

My opinion, when humanity reaches its end, Dogs will take our place.

 

I think its great we all love our 4 legged companions so much. Do I think some are over the top obsessed? oh yeah.
A little hairless dog having a few shirts for walks makes sense, having a full walk in closet for your dogs wardrobe is kooky.
Preventative medical care and comfort measures yes...having a pet on umpteen medications when the quality of life for the pet is gone is selfish.

We can over do anything that brings us comfort so why not our pets. The extreme is people who are anti social and only want the company of pets. Maybe we are evolving toward pets and technology as our only companions. Hope not.

 

That p#%ses me off. A guy does that in my area but his dog is a super active breed and is in great shape

 

When I was a kid, I ran my dog that way every day. But she pulled me. It was the highlight of her day. She LOVED going for a run.

 

Dogs don't need to run to be healthy any more than we do. In fact as with us too much running can prematurely bring on problems in their joints if they predisposed to arthritic conditions, so why risk it by the mistaken notion that 'dogs need to run'?

 

Has it ever crossed your mind that the next progressive campaign will be to free all dogs, cats and birds from their human overlords?

 

Another thought I'm throwing out for comment. It is in response to the observation that Americans love their dogs more than their family members, and put them on a saintly pedestal like nothing else in their lives. Why is that?

I think it points to a societal problem that perhaps we should identify and begin to address. I think we live in a world where there is no reaction to us, and it has a negative effect. People are starved for some kind of reaction. Your working environment ignores you, your spouse or family members ignore you. We bust our chops day in and day out to make a difference, but the kids take us for granted, the boss steals credit for our work/ideas, the people we vote for don't care about us... it is really a pretty unresponsive world.

But Fido responds. Fido wags his tail and gallops happily into your embrace when beckoned. He responds to your commands. He makes your dopamine flow. He doesn't tell you you've gained weight, or aren't successful enough.

100 years ago a dog's job was important to the survival of his human pack and the dog intuitively knew it. He would herd the sheep, hunt, defend, or chase rats. He could swim out and retrieve a duck and knew he was making a valuable contribution. Even a seeing-eye dog is aware of the role he plays in the welfare of his person. Dogs, like people, need to work.

Most of us who are dog-owners do not keep them so importantly or notably engaged. We have lowered their status to foot-lickers. Their jobs, now, are to shore up the emotional insufficiencies of our lives. People use their dogs like children use their blanky or teddy bear.
I think it is sort of cruel to the dog, and I think it may figure in the rise in canine anxiety syndromes and cancer.

 

There was a time when people with pickup trucks thought it was cool to put their dogs in the payload without anything for support. I would be following them down a winding mountain road and the poor dogs were getting tossed about. I heard stories of dogs getting thrown from the trucks and hit by oncoming traffic.

 

When I was a dog handler one of my colleagues had to take his dog to the vet in a town about 4 miles from the RAF station. Against all the rules, not to mention common sense, for the return journey he put the dog in the back of the police Land Rover, tying the leash to a seat support, so he could sit up front and chat to the driver. At some point in the journey the dog jumped out, and I don't need to explain the result of that! The outcome was a Court Martial.