to think owning a dog is selfish?

[hannadashery]

...with the exception of working dogs or as companions for retired people.

The majority of dog owners work, so in a 24 hour period in which their owner spends the majority of time sleeping or at work, a dog will be very lucky to get 3hrs walking a day and will probably spend the rest of the time bored/sleeping.

I don't believe dogs enjoy Netflix programs and highly doubt their owners are constantly hugging/petting them every evening. It feels that dogs sole purpose is to pad out that free time the owners have in between all their other activities. And sure dogs love their owners because who's going to hate the person that feeds them and provides temporary reprieve from absolute boredom.

Expecting an absolute flaming as so many people own dogs but from a non pet owners perspective it seems majority of dogs are basically slaves and are blissfully ignorant of their predicament.

Just thought I'd throw that as a light-hearted discussion on a Friday afternoon

It can be selfish. If you own say, a large border collie and live in a 5th floor flat in London but work from 7am to 6pm, plus a few weekends. Yes you’re selfish because of the hours the dog is alone and it’s breed. Border collies are working dogs bred to herd sheep and for intelligence...they need something to do, they need to be part of a pack, and they also need to be able to have a good run off a lead at least twice a day which is not happening in the middle of London.
Owners need to consider their environment and work hours when selecting a dog as a companion.

I agree. Three of my neighbours have dogs. One makes his sleep outside, I can hear it whimpering and crying at night. The other neighbour leaves her dog outside when she's at work...it barks on and off for hours. When the 3rd neighbour lets her two dogs out then they all set each other off barking, 4 dogs barking is not pleasant. Multiple people have left the street because they can't stand the barking.

Erm.... is it you or is it me? One of us has stepped into a parallel universe here. I don’t even know where to start so here you go, have a huge 🙄 on me

OP, you say you want to start 'a light-hearted discussion on a Friday afternoon', but clearly you are either very brave or happy to have thrown a conversational hand grenade in to the mix.

(I've only read the first few responses as yet, and see that one poster mentions her happy cockapoo, which I'm afraid I misread as 'cockatoo'. I did wonder why a pet bird was relevant to the discussion ... )

It depends on the owner and the circumstance. I agree it’s selfish to work full time and leave a dog alone all da. Even if someone comes round to walk the dog for a while they still are spending a lot of time alone every day and that’s not fair on the dog. Dogs get lonely and bored. Even if the dog accepts it and just sleeps all day and doesn’t howl or destroy things, it doesn’t mean they aren’t bored or lonely, they’ve just accepted that is their life.

We have a dog. She comes to work with me and has three walks a day around work hours. When she is at work with me she just sleeps. Can can be left for a few hours which we do at weekends if we need to go shopping or for dinner etc. She’s fine alone, but I know she loves us being around. If wouldn’t have a dog if we both worked all day and had to leave her at home.

I think having Netflix is selfish.

I work from home though, so I’m allowed to keep my dog, ner ner everyone.

My dogs have boredom breaker toys such as kongs, frozen treat toys, and spinning discs that dispense treats when spun or rolled for while we are out, however I am a student and work part time and my shift pattern isn't the same as OH so they're only left alone in the house for probably under 4 hours on average. If we are out for a full day for whatever reason, my mum comes to "babysit" /walk them or take them to play in her massive field of a garden.

When they're at home they generally have constant access to all sorts of toys, and the garden. One of them lies on the gras sout side an done of them lies in his bed in the kitchen, even when the door is open.

They get taken for walks in the woods or on the beach or just a few laps around the town, even when I really can't be arsed, and I try to play fetch or let them off lead for a good run whenever I can. And they both lie snoring all bloody night! One of them in his own armchair and one of them on her favourite bed.

Both of my dogs are rescue dogs and mini lodgers, as opposed to slaves 🙄. If anything I'm their slave! I don't see them hoovering up my hairs or picking up my shit!

And yes, most dogs generally are active for far fewer hours of the day than you would imagine and not all breeds need 3 hours of exercise, bracycephalic breeds certainly don't and surprisingly, nor do whippets.

Goady McGoadface OP

My dog isn't ever in his own (that's an issue!) and has way more cuddles than he wants!

He has lots of walks too which he loves. I choose to put him first in my life which is probably stupid to most people but I luffs him millions

I'm on maternity leave so my dog is with me pretty much 90% of the time. He's either under my feet while I'm cleaning, asleep or cuddled up to me on the sofa.
Before I finished work he came to the office with me and spent his days being fussed by clients and colleagues.
Yes for the most part dog ownership is selfish, but I don't believe dogs get bored when they (by nature) spend the majority of the day asleep.

You are talking bollocks and it wasn't light hearted so don't try and pretend it was.

Dog owner. Non working outside the home. Cuddles and sits with dog all evening. Walks her twice a day. Has more toys than the shop.

Whoop whoop! I am a dog owner and by oo standards now selfish. I got my dog when I worked from home. She was rarely alone.

When I got divorced my best friend offered to dog share. She lives down the road. If I wfh she stays with me. If not she goes there. Best friends mum, lives there so again she isnt alone. My dog has 5 adults and 3 older kids to entertain her, train her, dote on her, walk her and keep her company.

FWIW, I think op is goady fucker.

I've read some absolute shite in my time on MN, but this just takes the --dog biscuit.

Owning a dog is selfish but having children isn't because they'll one day pay tax? Er, ok, OP.

As a side note: there's not nearly enough dog photos on this thread for my liking.

Why do you keep talking about Netflix? I don’t get the link.

My dog is alone for 4 hours max once a day, if that

He would hate 3 hours walk, he manages an hour at most

He also was going to go to a rescue if I didn’t take him in so concrete home vs my house... no brainier

I WFH or am home weekends and he often chooses to spend most of the day asleep. He doesn’t have to, I am there

He also approaches me frequently asking for cuddles or play. His cuddles aren’t us with our arms around each other, his cuddles are him licking me, rubbing his body over me, rolling around, play fighting etc.

He costs me money to own, time and routine - you can’t be entirely selfish as actually you have to think about the animal in everything you do. Last night when I was walking him and trying to find his poo by torchlight then I put my finger in it, I didn’t feel very selfish!

Well if it's selfish to have a dog I must be the most selfish person going. I have 4, they are all happy healthy and wonderful and they are a real pack. If one goes to the vet/groomers then they don't settle until they're all together again. To me, that means they make each other happy. But mostly they make me happy - this is them all trying to share one bed when there's another 3 perfectly good ones spread out elsewhere 🙈

Do what would you do. Set them free to roam around, see to themselves? Or kill them all off?

Our dogs are not accessories
They’re part of the family
They love us, we love them
Mines rarely left alone, I work from home

Dogs are another accessory to Netflix, mumsnet the gym etc

I have no idea what you mean by this .
My dog has never watched Netflix (we don’t have it), been on Mumsnet or been to the gym!

Yeah it’s much better to have loads of hungry sick uncared for strays wandering the streets! Or do you think we should kill all the pet dogs and only let the working dogs remain? This is ridiculous.

I see you're a fan of a good old fashion sweeping statement OP. And your knowledge of dogs' needs is severely lacking.

I'm retired and so I'm with my dog most of the day. She'd be horrified if I expected her to walk three hours a day, in fact it would probably end up causing her massive health problems, given her size.

Neither would she be happy to be permanently fussed over and petted.

I play with her at various times throughout the day, she's walked an appropriate length of time every day and she spend a fair amount of her day either sleeping, mooching around or just sitting and watching the outside world.

Dogs in the wild, would not be active all day and they certainly wouldn't want to be cuddling anyone.

Like most wild animals they would pace themselves with a bit of hunting, which would involve moving from place to place, socialising, resting and sleeping. Dogs are not humans, their needs are completely different so a lot of the things you have listed that dogs miss out on by being owned by people is not something they require.

My dog has had her evening meal and has taken herself upstairs to sleep in one of the rooms up there because she's very independent and doesn't feel the need to be petted and fussed and in my company all the time.

She is most definitely not living some sort of slave existence. Her behaviour makes it clear she's happy and enjoys life. Maybe it is selfish of me to own a dog but we're both happy with the arrangement and she's very well cared for.

I can assure you that I pay enough tax to cover both me and my dog, if dogs not being tax payers bothers you OP. So don't worry, if my dog brings you no benefits in that regard, I'm sure the taxes I pay help go towards what does benefit you.

Given that quite a percentage of people in this country never pay any tax at all, the argument that children will grow up to be be tax payers, so having them isn't selfish, doesn't hold water.

Any non tax paying humans will make as much use of all the things our taxes pay for as tax payers will.

Apart from things like poo bins, dog will make no use of tax funded facilities at all. There is no NHS, or tax funded schooling for dogs.

Op, at first I thought you had a point. I had a dig as a child and found it upsetting that he was left alone most of the day.

But I think you just don't like dogs, if we're being honest. And that's fine... but don't pretend you actually care about dogs, just be honest.

My husband works from home so is with our dog all day, and can choose to sit with him or has run of the house if she wants to be by herself. She often goes with my parents for trips out. When I'm home she is glued to my lap.

Please tell me how we are being selfish?

well yes - we have dogs because they bring US joy. Lots of people say it's selfish to have children for the same reason. It's all about us.

My dogs adore me. I feel adored. I adore them. It's great. What's not to like? (they have a great life and aren't alone at all at the moment).

Poor unloved dogs! They’re never left more than 4 hours, if my DH is on days (3 days a month he coincides with me) the neighbour takes them into her house. We haven’t been on holiday for years because we didn’t want to leave the older boy who was sadly pts this year.

3 hours walking a day? You really are clueless, OP. One of mine has hip dysplasia and would not cope with anything near that, it’s stopped us having lovely long walks, but he’s more than worth it. PETA believe no animals should be pets and removed and destroyed a chi from someone’s property. Some of the comments on this thread are reminiscent of their ‘ideals’.