Posted on 06/30/2011 3:29:04 PM PDT by NYer
Dogs are often given the title “man’s best friend.” I get that. However, a new title has surfaced which turns one’s dog from friend to family. These days people address their dog as “baby.”
Last December, I received a Christmas card in the mail with someone’s dog in the spotlight posing as Santa. Cute? Sure… until I read the caption which read, “Baby’s First Christmas.” This was just the beginning of my observations.
More recently, I met a rather chatty woman in the post office. She was in the process of picking out a Father’s Day card for her son. Her only requirement was that the card include a dog in its design. At first, I thought this to be an innocent request. After conversing longer, she shared that her son’s ex-girlfriend (who I gathered used to live with him) left her two dogs with this man after her departure. The mother was duly impressed with her thirty-year old son’s ability to take care of these creatures. So much so that that was in fact the motivation behind purchasing a Father’s Day card for him. So, would such a mentality make her a grandmother?
I found that encounter bizarre enough, and did not think it could be topped. I was wrong. In my neighborhood, it is not a rare sight to see folks taking advantage of trails that line the roads. On one occasion, I came across a woman roller-skating. As I passed in my car, I glanced over to see that she had a baby carrier strapped to the front of her chest. I expected to see a child. Instead, a dog was strapped in with its legs dangling and its ears blowing in the wind. I passed in shock.
A few days later, I ran a 5k in some brutal heat. Surely, if anyone had offered me water, I would have happily accepted. That didn’t happen, but I did overhear someone ask the couple behind me if their dog could use some water. I glanced behind me to see a bottle of water being held up to the dog’s mouth.
It is not just water alone that is being offered to dogs these days. The options are endless from doggie cones at the ice cream shop to the best beef in town in the dinner dish. With so many occurrences of dog doting, perhaps in this culture I am the one who is seen as odd. Minority belief or not, dogs will never be humans, and therefore we should stop pretending that they are.
After so many extreme episodes of canine care, I began to ponder why dogs have been promoted from pet to person. I believe it reveals a truth that is written on the human heart. The truth I am referring to is that humans are wired for self-donating love. Scripture reveals each person is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 2:27). And who is God, if not Love? (1 John 4:8) The Triune God is a communion of Divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Call it a family of three. Richard of St. Victor explained that a requirement of perfect love is sharing with another person, and perfect love between two requires loving for the sake of a third.
All persons are made in the image of the Trinity, and therefore, are also drawn into communion. In marriage, God invites man and woman to model this triune love in their human family. We hear what is written on our soul echoed in God’s command to husband and wife: “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 2:28). The love of spouses continues outside of themselves in the flesh of a human person. “For conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs forth from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2366).
What does this truth have to do with dogs? If in marriage, husband and wife do not heed to God’s command to be fruitful in the begetting of children, then this hunger to love something outside of themselves, in union with each other, will find false expression. As seen, one example of this is in the adoption of a pet, where an animal gains the privileges of a person. They are seen as the “third” in this communion of husband and wife. It is a twisted truth, a pacifier. What these couples truly desire is a child. “Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents” (Gaudium et Spes 50).
I know several individuals who match this description. With legalized same sex marriage, how much longer before states recognize bestiality?
I have been observing the same for a few years now. First was a woman in her 60’s who referred to her single son’s german shepard as her “grandchild”. Then, my husband works with a man who had a couple of corgis who he referred to as his “son” and his “daughter”. My husband said to me that when he talked about his dogs,he(hubby) felt “icky”.
Yea, I’m guilty of treating them like one of the family.
That's down the list. There are other things first.
Besides, there are still rabid animal rights activists out there fighting to free all the domestic slaves, and they'll tell you that animals can't give informed consent. And these are serious people who MUST be listened to. Not like, you know, religious people.
Q: Why are dogs better than kids?
A: When you get sick of your dog, you can put it to sleep.
This does appear to be happening more and more. I can think of several examples. Why, though?
There is an Ancient Legend of the Cherokee Nation:*
Early in creation, man and animals lived side by side.
But one day the Great Spirit decided to separate man from the animals by giving man an eternal soul.
The Great Spirit caused a huge chasm to open in the earth with man on one side and the animals on the other side.
The chasm grew wider and wider until, at the very last moment, the dog jumped across the chasm to stand by man.
When a dog can respond correctly to the following question like any of my grand daughters can, I’ll think about it. “Sweetie, please get Poppy a beer out of the frigermalator and bring it to me”......
My dog Tojo is very much like a kid. Its like having a perpetual two-year-old around the house.
(Plus he’s almost as expensive as a kid and listens about as well....)
;-)
Seriously, my dog IS a valued family member, and dog people understand this. I’m willing to bet that this over-educated hectoring bimbo Jennessa ever had a dog.
I just assumed that the dog may be elderly or artheritic and she was taking it to a park where it could roam free.
PD JAMES The Children of Men. Read it
Dont watch the film. Leftist film industry turned into leftist drivel.
I love dogs, but to see the way some people treat their pets is just plain old idolatry. It can be sickening at times.
Dogs don't care how vilely you behave, they are happy with the bare minimum, and they will love you no matter how badly you treat them.
Perfect child substitute for the lazy and selfish.
And although it does not need saying: yes, dogs are wonderful companions for decent people too.
I played lacrosse with a guy who trained his dog to fetch beer from the fridge. They kept a rope on the fridge handle so the dog could open it up. No lie.
Substitute children for an aging urban yuppess?
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