Dog lovers aren’t animal lovers

[Namechanger1993]

I’ve been lurking in various dog related threads recently and it’s become abundantly clear how few dog owners on MN actually love animals. Not all. But lots.

Posters not caring about health tests on parents, or the breeders experience or ability or what happens to the bitch (mother of the pups) after as their desire for expensive mix outweighs their ethics about puppy farming or dogs being born in pain with chronic health issues as a result of bad breeding. Posters admitting their dogs have soiled themselves for a year before they put their dog to sleep. No matter which way you look at it (and believe me, I understand how hard it is to say goodbye), people who love their dogs don’t let them sleep in their shit for a year. Posters not exercising their dog sufficiently or not giving it mental stimulation and then wondering why its badly behaved.

Time and time again I’ve seen posters put their desire for a dog above any morals they might have about animal welfare (including their own dogs). welfare. Honestly, it’s quite shocking how little so many posters care about their dogs, or indeed the dogs use to produce their cute puppy.

I mean, a significant minority of dog owners don't even seem to like dogs that much so...

(by which I mean, they like the idea of dogs but in reality they freak out at every normal-for-dogs thing that their dog, or any dog they encounter, does)

You’re not wrong - but be prepared for a tonne of abuse, OP.

People are woefully blind about dog breeding and, as you say, their desire for a particular dog at a particular time outweighs any fucks they give about the dam or sires welfare.

And yes, agree, letting your dog soil itself in old age for an even months - let alone upwards of a year - isn’t love. It’s selfishness. But again, people don’t listen because when their dog gets their old the fact the dog is suffering doesn’t register with them because it’s all about them.

My DH and I say this all the time. Pet owners exploit them for their emotional wellbeing (and to show them off as an expensive fashion accessory - dogs are expensive!). And then many don't look after them properly. And then you have the ones that have been bred for certain features and suffer terrible health problems as a result.

20 years ago vegans were considered to be cranks. I know people will think I am a crank for saying this. But once AI has developed and is keeping us as pets and controlling our movements people will see I am right :)

I know cats are more in the exploiter category than exploited - but still have to suck up to humans a bit to get fed, even if they could go out to find their own food.

I feel the same about supposed cat lovers who buy posh breeds.

I feel like owners who try to over humanise their pets definitely aren't responsible dog owners. They love a made up version of a dog, not the actual animal that the dog is. Dogs can be amazing pets, and some of them can even be trained as life saving assistant animals, but they are animals.

I agree. I was in the vets the other day and there was a French Bulldog, it’s inability to breathe was distressing to hear.

I have a colleague who recently bought a cockapoo and talks about it constantly. Real dog lovers wouldn’t go anywhere near these breeds.

I always feel sorry for indoor cats as well, what a dull life they have.

Oh do bore off with this goady shit. If you've been lurking in dog related threads, you must have plenty of time on your hands, because there's so many of them. There are many dog lovers on MN, plenty of those obsessed with bitching about dog ownership as well.

This is very true. People on here train their dogs to ignore other dogs. That’s incredibly cruel as dogs are social animals and the enjoyment from play is delightful to see.

😆 🤣 wtf

She’s not bitchy about dog ownership though, only about how so many pet owners don’t care about animal welfare. And it’s true. They don’t - the amount of people who come to me asking for a puppy when they work full time and have young children is staggering. Those people should not even be considering a dog, yet they give me a torrent of abuse when I refuse to even consider placing them on my wait list. Those aren’t animal lovers, as OP rightly states. They’re fashion buyers.

I can see your point because you're talking logically. The OP and responses are hyperbolic.

Do you think that this has something to do with the rapid increase in dog ownership in the pandemic?

People, who might not have decided to own a dog, suddenly changed their minds, as dog walking was an acceptable activity. Five years later, perhaps some of them are tired of the restrictions that ownership brings and the time and expense of caring for a dog.

Iys no different to people who become parents because they like the idea of being a parent rather than because they love kids.

They will always be good and bad parents either way. Why would it be any different for pets owners?

I do disagree about dehumanising pets though. You can never love a dog enough. Them being an animal rather than human doesn't change this. A loved dog with plenty of attention and care is almost inevitably a happy dog.

Same with horses tbh - “care” and “love” wrapped up in completely unnatural discipline, stabling and feeding regimes.. love is not = to a happy fulfilled animal.

This for me is lack of education rather than not caring. There was a lady in the paper yesterday who bought a dog from a puppy farm, she was appalled by what she saw and the state of the mum, but couldn’t bear to walk away and leave the puppy there.

What we should have is a proper route for reporting puppy farms, where people know the reports will be taken seriously and perhaps they can keep the puppy rather than being frightened that the puppies will disappear into rescue centres

For me, being a dog lover & having anything to do with the Kennel Club are mutually exclusive. Don't tell me how much you adore dogs & animals whilst supporting a system & organisation that has destroyed breeds for the sake of looks.

I actually managed to get myself blocked on twitter, years ago, by both the KC & Crufts for tweeting alongside vets about what a repellent spectacle they've created.

Most "dog lovers" are definitely not animal lovers. When you consider how many animals are slaughtered to feed dogs, that is obvious. The worship of pets to the detriment of other animals is, imo, a mental illness.

A dog can be loved and cared for without humanising it, in fact humanising can be detrimental to care.

Our dog would have the odd poo accident in his sleep during the last year of his life. It was normally as he woke up on a morning and he didn't even realise he'd done it, so wasn't in distress. It wasn't on his fur or anything and just meant we did more frequent bed changes. It was likely as a result of needing to have his anal glands removed earlier in his life. He was also having weekly hydrotherapy, laser and massage and acupuncture appointments, so seeing 2 - 3 different vets each week. None of them mentioned about his quality of life/having him put to sleep until the point at which we did.

I've never bought from a breeder, but when I looked into it, it's actually not ethically as straightforward as looking at the parent's health tests and whether they're KC registered etc. A lot of dogs are intentionally bred to have traits which will cause them health problems down the line. For example, the trend for GSDs to have sloped backs is desirable in breeding circles, but is likely to cause the dog hip and mobility issues in the future.

The whole concept of exploiting the reproductive systems of animals so that humans can continue to have pets is repulsive.
Then we prevent them from being with their own species, prevent them mating when they want, prevent them being with their offspring past the first few weeks, put a chain on their neck, walk them round as we see fit, put them through medical procedures to extend their lives for our own benefit, it really is a horrible concept, all of it, but people don't want to think about any of this.

Agree with @KeineBedeutung. I think that the insane anthropomorphisation of pet dogs by their owners doesn't do them any favours.

A dog can be loved and cared for without humanising it, in fact humanising can be detrimental to care
In which way?

I’m a dog owner and I agree with a lot of this. There’s a certain number of ‘breeds’ that make me raise an eyebrow. In my experience (and understand others may have experienced different) the owners I know who have more ‘serious’ breeds such as Rotties, GSDs etc seem to show more care and attention and put more effort in to training the dog to have good manners and be well socialised. Most that own a breed ending with “poo” or have little sausage dogs don’t seem to bother making much of an effort

I agree, OP. There are so many new horrors as a result of the increased consumerisation of dog ownership.

One thing that gets to me in particular is the international trade in dogs via overseas 'rescues'. Do people really think it is in the best interest of a traumatised street dog to be crated up and shipped for hours to a profoundly different location, rather than humanely destroyed?

There was a story in the paper the other day about a dog that had been shipped from Dubai and had gone missing from its foster carers, travelling 200 miles and eventually swimming out to sea. Imagine the shock, confusion, trauma of the animal, trying desperately to return to the only 'normality' that it knew. Cruelty, pure and simple, dressed up as love.

I don’t completely disagree with ALL of your points but the domestic dog has evolved over millennia to be companions to humans and to work with them so both can get food. Dogs naturally rely on their human companions for shelter and food and many working breeds feel happiest when they have a job to do.