To think that people who don’t like pets shouldn’t be judged as “cold”?

[ByMellowScroller]

Not everyone loves animals, yet people think it’s a red flag. AIBU to think it’s just personal preference and nothing more?

I freely admit that my love for my cats is completely immature. Guilty as charged.

But I have to spend about 16 hours a day having my shit together so let me have that.

Yes, dogs use their natural sense of smell to sniff stuff out. It's not intelligence. It's instinct and Pavlovian response. The cleverness comes from the people training them to do it, not the dogs. It's the equivalent of asking a 2 year old to point when they hear a bell ringing.

And when they've finished, they lick their balls. Because they are big, dumb animals. Sometimes they can be charming, but they're not smart. People are smart. Dogs aren't.

Why are you so angry? Maybe you'd be much calmer and happier if you had a dog. Cuddling a dog lowers blood pressure.

Angry and aggressive? The dogs, is this?

www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/police-search-savage-dog-after-9677933

Why do you think I am angry?

It's not people who aren't into pets who are calling others "sociopaths" on this thread....

👏

Don't be so ignorant. Not for everyone. Cuddling a dog would raise my blood pressure.

You think human males wouldn't lick their balls if they could reach them? As it is so many are constantly fiddling with them.

You seem to have an active dislike of non-human animals, not just indifference to them, from your comments here. That, or the forbidden t-word.

What - female dogs lick their balls? That’s some magic shit there! I never knew! 😂

Thanks, your posts have made me chuckle tonight!

Recognising that most dogs are simple, dumb, instinctive creatures doesn't mean I actively dislike them. (I don't love the attacky, violent ones, but that's just a different kind of dumb instinct too). They just don't interest me. People are a thousand times more fascinating.

I don't actually hate parrots or gerbils either. The incredible power of nature and evolution and all that. But caging them for your pleasure wild animals as pets, living toys for humans has never struck me as a thing you'd do if you loved animals.

I said it with humour, sarcasm, irony....🙄

Which just proves the point really. Anger.

You may not realise it, but your posts have all suggested something much more negative than simply not being interested in animals or approving of pet ownership (fwiw, I dislike caging birds, too). Dismissing animal intelligence because it's very different from human intelligence doesn't lessen the impression.

I like animals, especially wild ones.
Don't want any pets because I don't want the responsibility.

Hey, I've read that octopus book. I'm fascinated by nature. I understand that some animals have abilities beyond those of humans and brains that work in ways we cannot comprehend.

So I'm not dismissing animal intelligence. I'm saying (the nicest) dogs are big, simple, dumb toddlers.

It's the "dumb" bit I take issue with here. It's a sweeping statement. Dogs vary vastly by breed - look at the capacities of herding dogs, for example.

There's also the matter of the emotional bonds between humans and companion animals, which tbh seems to be a concept you don't grasp. I'm not saying you should feel that way, but you seem dismissive of the idea that humans and other animals have meaningful and loving bonds.

I think you need to clarify what you mean by 'don't like pets'

You don't want pets? You are frightened of pets? You don't like animals in general? It can mean all sorts of things.

Mine is a Livestock Protection dog but she doubles up as my therapy dog, so she's hardly dumb.

These people seem to think it's clever to put things down but all they are doing is showing their ignorance.

People are smart. Dogs aren't.
Have you met people?

Yeah, I'm not sure I'd be too quick to boast about how smart humans are.

There's only one species actively destroying its home planet right now, and it's not dogs.

I judge people who don’t love pets but I do so silently. Makes me like them a bit less though

Yep!

@notprincehamlet LOL! 😆

Yanbu, I wish them no harm and don't hate them but to me I could never hold them on the same level as humans. I can never understand when people don't do things just because of the dog.

I'm guessing she's one of the Pyrenean Mountain Dog breeds? She sounds splendid.

😆