Do you like dogs more than people and treat them better than people ?

[tvluv]

It seems to me there are a lot of people who value dogs higher than they do people and treat them better ?

Do you agree ? Do you do this ?

😁

I’ll have a look - thank you!

There is an innocence about animals that can make them more appealing and easier to sentimentalise than people. They are similar to babies and children in that they are not culpable of anything (any bad traits are generally regarded as the fault of the person responsible for them) so they are seen as 'pure souls' who don't cause hurt or offence, unlike people with all their flaws and failings.

That is simply not true.

I follow a SM page about a greyhound called Blue the Grey. During the lockdowns, his owner posted videos and pictures of his antics, and his begging eyes (he was a very big fan of toast). He very sadly died earlier this year after a very short illness. All of his followers were distraught, as was his owners.
His followers posted photos of their own greyhounds eating toast as a tribute.
People dug deep, and over 115 thousand AUD has so far been raised in his name, all going to various greyhound rescue charities.
Many people have also gone on to rescue their own greyhounds after reading about him.

I had to look up what the current amount stands at, and seeing the page has set me off crying. He touched a lot of people.

@AnApparitionQuipped I agree with you wholeheartedly. I love my cats.

I like most dogs better than most humans. If I had to break down the human race into groups, I’d say around a third are lovely. (I’m not a misanthrope. At their best, human beings are magnificent and far superior to all other animals. I care deeply about the good people.) Roughly another third are ok(ish). But around a quarter to a third of the human race are utter vermin, and a minority (thankfully a fairly small minority) are downright evil - much worse than any animal. I would 100% save a dog before I would save the most horrible people. Who on earth would rescue Rose West or Harvey Weinstein instead of a drowning spaniel?

It’s hard. But dogs that are already here need looking after and they need to eat. Obviously, I’d never buy a puppy and I can’t stand the vast majority of breeding. We feed our dogs a diet including meat but they have fruit/veg too, (they love it) to fill them up. For me I go by the vegan definition of trying to exclude as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals. There is some evidence to say that dogs can be healthy vegans but I don’t think it’s convincing enough yet.

The ideal for most vegans is to eliminate animals in captivity including pets but we have to be realistic. Given current attitudes that may never happen and if it does, it will take many years to get there.

In the meantime, it doesn’t seem right that these already existing animals are euthanised or set free, so keeping them in rescues and having pets seems the best option.

These animals need meat, I don’t so I choose to not eat any animal products. I think we have to remember that nothing is perfect, I just do what I think is right. 😊

I think that's what's known as mass hysteria! I don't want anyone to think I don't care about animals because I do, very much so, but I still wouldn't save an animal over a human.

I defintely would save my dogs over strangers and most friends. I don't think a human's life is worth more because they are human. In fact, for all the talk of humankind's capacity for goodness, the average human is just a selfish, petty, pleasure-seeking lump. At worst we're imaginatively cruel and destructive.
Dogs just get on with being dogs. As do other animals. They don't seem lesser to me just because I'm not one.

I think people who don't like dogs just don't get it. They make me very happy and not many annoy me. There are a lot of humans that annoy me.

Any human?

Thank you so much for answering in good faith. This makes sense.

I am vegetarian as is DH. Both have been for about 40 years. We support quite a few animal charities.

We are leaving all our money to various animal charities. Pretty sure that will annoy some posters but we both prefer animals to the majority of humans.

Well no, obviously not peadophile or murderer but then I wouldn't save them even if there was no animal involved

How would you know they were? "Excuse me, before I save you are you a murderer?" 🙄

My dog is a family member. If I had to save a human family member or the dog then it would be the human, but if it was a stranger or my dog then I think as someone else said instinct would make me save my dog over a stranger.

I would obviously assume they're not a murderer. Unlike some crazies on this thread I don't actually hate people who aren't my immediate family 🙄

You should never assume. Google up the amount of released murderers and paedophiles. Add in rapists and sexual abusers. Its a horrifyingly large number.

However you are assuming some posters are crazy. You are assuming they hate strangers. What a lot of assumptions you make!! (Which make you come across as the unrational one btw) 😉

So if we switched the thought experiment from "you have to save either a baby or a puppy" to "you have to kill a baby or a puppy"

When you say 'have to' what is the threat to enforce this?

If it is 'or you will die' I would let them kill me - I have had longer on the planet than either the puppy or the baby, so it would only be fair to let the puppy and baby live.

If it's 'if you do not choose, both will die' I would toss a coin.

Fair enough, I'll bear your comments in mind next time I'm in this ludicrous hypothetical position. Also I'm not assuming some posters hate people, they've literally said it. 😉

@BobLobIaw I want to know more about how dogs are man made.
Were they created in a lab by a mad scientist?
We need to know these things.

Imagine asking someone to choose which of their children or other family members they would 'save' in a hypothetical situation. It's just a horrible question designed to imply that people are bad or selfish in some way, for no real reason since it's vanishingly unlikely to ever happen. If my house was on fire I'd do whatever I could do get everyone out safely that I could, my dog included. As would anyone else, no doubt. As for 'would you swerve a truck into a person to avoid a dog' (eyeroll), how can anyone possibly answer that? It's not like our brains are computers calculating the best outcome and determining who to 'save' in any split-second moment. You'd act out of instinct and self-preservation and can't possibly predict what you'd ACTUALLY do.

(As an aside, this is one of the interesting ethical problems facing designers of self-driving cars - how do you program them to 'react' in emergency situations where they might have to 'choose' the best course of action? Should you program it to crash and potentially cause harm to the occupants if the alternative is to swerve into a crowd of people? Do you program it to plough into the deer on the road instead of swerving and crashing into another car instead? There's an article about it here (one of many) www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07135-0)

My dog didn't ask to be brought into my home to live with me and have all major decisions about his life made by me. I am very aware of that every day and so I take the responsibility of looking after him very seriously. It's my job to look after him, ensure his health and wellbeing, and make sure he has a good life. I won't be made to feel like a bad person for wanting to take care of the innocent being I've brought into my home and I don't know why I am still replying because this whole thread is full of stupid pointless debates that nobody would actually have in real life!

@FirewomanSam oh is never thought about that with electric cars - cripes.

should individuals get to choose what setting? Eg if my child is in the car run over a granny to protect her - but if it’s a granny in the car don’t ever risk a child.

yeesh. What I can guarantee is that whoever is deciding these things is not the corporate person/committee of people you would want it to be..

Interesting.
Much as I love dogs, the inability to choose between their life and a baby, and a willingness to sacrifice your own life for one is to me irrational and unpragmatic.
The life of a puppy is objectively of less value to the world than that of a human baby. If the puppy is allowed to live, it's life will last about a 5th of that of the human baby. It will touch the lives of far fewer people and it's potential to contribute to the greater good will be minute by comparison.
At the most basic level, dogs reproduce more easily, quickly and in greater numbers.
I have some understanding of why someone might choose a known and loved pet over a person, but struggling to chose a baby over a puppy and putting a puppy above your own life seems very extreme.

Your money, your choice. But yes, I do think it's disgusting, when there are people dying of hunger in this country. You could pick one friend or relative you know is struggling and make a life-changing offer for them.

Not sure what being a vegetarian has to do with anything. Guess you don't care about cows.