Posted on 04/11/2014 7:51:03 PM PDT by ClaytonP
As birth rates among young women plummet, small dog ownership has risen rapidly in America’s urban centers.
America’s next generation of youngsters should be called “Generation Rex.”
If you’re wondering why playgrounds around the city are so quiet and dog runs are packed, a new report has an answer: More and more US women are forgoing motherhood and getting their maternal kicks by owning handbag-size canines.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that a big drop in the number of babies born to women ages 15 to 29 corresponds with a huge increase in the number of tiny pooches owned by young US women, reports the business-news site Quartz.
Dog-crazy New York ladies told The Post that they aren’t surprised by the findings — and that they happily gave up diaper changes, temper tantrums and college funds for the easy affection of their doggy “child.”
[...]
The federal data behind the report show that over the past seven years, the number of live births per 1,000 women between ages 15 and 29 in America has plunged 9 percent.
At the same time, research by the American Pet Products Association shows the number of small dogs — under 25 pounds — in the United States has skyrocketed, from 34. 1 million in 2008 to 40.8 million in 2012.
I can confirm that there are more dogs than children at urban parks. Every afternoon and weekend, people congregate with their dogs at a park down the street from me. There is a playground on one side of the park, and a dog area on the other. The dogs outnumber the children roughly four to one, and maybe more. I used to take my kids to the park on a regular basis, and my then two-year-old daughter was terrified of the dogs that careless, irresponsible owners allowed to run free. On a couple of occasions, I had some words with people about that, but their attitude was along the lines of “if your daughter is scared of dogs, maybe you shouldn’t take her to the park.”
So, there is at least one good thing about the small dog trend: the little dogs are less of a danger and less frightening to small children. I should admit that I’m not much of a dog person. I developed an antipathy toward dogs as a small child living on the fringes of a ghetto neighborhood. Back in the early 1980s, people didn’t think twice about keeping attack dogs, and many let their dogs run wild in the neighborhood. Some of those ghetto dogs were vicious beasts. I was convinced a rottweiler around the corner wanted to kill me, and I don’t think I was wrong. Every time I rode my bike past its house the monster would hurl itself full force against a rickety fence in a fury.
But those dogs served a different purpose from these little lapdogs. As much as I hated them, I have to admit that they performed some utilitarian function; it’s a lot harder to break into a house with a snarling rottweiler in its yard than one without.
Despite the fact that the small dogs are not as scary as the big ghetto dogs I knew as a child, both breeds say something unflattering about the neighborhood. In the past, the dogs suggested that there was a lot of crime in the ‘hood; today, the dogs suggest that children are an inconvenience. There’s no other conclusion to draw when one sees that dogs are dominant while children are few and outnumbered.
Do dogs really bring as much happiness to their female owners as children? Perhaps not, but if the women interviewed for the story are any indication, maybe they bring them enough happiness. The lapdog may be the most humane way to ease the white, urban SWPL’s headlong rush into demographic oblivion, which is all but a done deal. Without children and grandchildren, legions of small dogs will be needed to see them through what would otherwise be a lonely life. Perhaps some day in the future, when they are all gone, the people occupying what is currently the United States can erect a statue in their memory: a statue of a woman with an iphone, a purse and a tiny dog by her side, walking blithely into the great unknown.
Nice lap dog.
(Provided you’ve got a full size lap.)
You have made a very good point. Imagine having a child and then discovering that your husband is a lying, thieving, conniving, philandering.... Imagine putting said child through the unpleasantness of a divorce. People make errors in judgment. I even knew a woman whose first marriage failed after she had two little boys. She became enamored of an ostensibly good, family-type man only to discover later that he had molested her boys when he purported to share childcare responsibility. There are defective men who manifest jealousy and therefore mistreat children and animals. I’ve seen enough ugliness in my life that I’m reluctant to make judgments about another’s status with respect to children.
You’re right. In the circles I mix with, the families have 8 or more children.
Parenting is not for everyone. As a former social services caseworker I can attest to that.
Is it possible for two normal well adjusted people to not have kids & yet bless those who do? I believe that it is.
Correlation != Causation
While I don’t disagree that our very survival as a culture is in jeopardy, small dogs are not the bringers of the apocalypse, even if I do find them unnecessary.
Follow up story ping.
Yes, small dogs in and of themselves are not a cause, they are a symptom.
I am sorry. I bet you would have made a great mom.
Those things happen, but in my post I was referring more to women who would like to get married and just haven’t found someone yet. Owning a dog does not mean theyre bitter, nasty, career-obsessed, or reject children.
Also, many young women have found that men do not want to hear “Oh I’d love to get married and have three children!” It spooks men, and they bolt like a nervous horse before the second date. So the girls try to be cool and not admit it. Certainly not in public.
Yes, dogs are wonderful. I have always been a dog person, and, at this point in time, we have a wonderful corgi. We will both cry buckets when this doggie goes (he is getting older); but, (and I can't emphasize this enough), the dog is not my child. I have two children, they love the dog too; but, the dog is not a child. He is a wonderful companion; but, he is a dog --- not a child.
I have a few comments on this, without thorough reading or researching elsewhere.
-are just young women buying little dogs? What about the Boomers on the bubble of being the prime elders now? Older people like smaller dogs; sone change because a large dog is physically hard for them to handle.
-comparing it to babies born to 15-29? Seriously? Sorry, but most of that age bracket should NOT be bearing babies. I’m glad if there are fewer irresponsible children having babies out of wedlock.
-lonely playgrounds may be due much to parents’ ridiculous notions that children should be herded into forced organized activities instead of just plain playing. My neighborhood has more kids playing for fun during the weeknights than weekends (much as I HATE the neighbor who set up a hoop on our straight street to invite every kid to play in the street). Lots of times the weekend days here are like school times. No kids out. They make them go to these stupid activities.
Bingo. I tire of all this blame the woman.
I hear here also bemoaning how OLD women are having children. Well, some of us are moral and choosy, and once one reaches 30, it’s really hard to find a mate as the pool shrank so much with many of them already married. So, sometimes we are really old by the time we finally meet someone. Then we keep it closed until married. Then wait a bit. Before long I am 38 by the time my son comes along.
Not everyone is “selfish” who has a kid late.
I’m sorry to hear that Sal. You are such a cool lady.
I will say ours is a bit of a replacement for our older child who went off to college!
You are correct. My niece got married and a few months after the wedding she came home to find him with another woman. He had been cheating on her even when they were engaged! We were all thankful that she didn’t have children. He was a democrat!
I will add that now she is happily married to a nice guy and they are expecting their first kid.
It is the natural thing for a healthy woman with a healthy husband to have children into her 40s, no matter what age she married. I was 45 when my youngest was born, and there's every indication that I could have a baby at 48. (However, I'm not pregnant right now.)
What's wrong is the idea that a healthy married couple has an obligation NOT to have children, just because of somebody else's prejudices, "You have too many. You're too old. I could never do that!"
Okay, fine. You (rhetorical you) could never do that. You're not as awesome as me!
My point is that the women with little dogs aren't hurting anyone so they should be left alone. I'm really not concerned whether or not they want to be married, are bitter, whatever, as long as they're not producing children I have to support.
Oh, one other thing: two of my closest friends married men who did not want children. (Both women, like both men, are professionals--both men are at least fifteen years older than the women.) The men opted for vasectomies before both women had to have hysterectomies for medical reasons (uncontrolled hemmorhage and cancer, respectively).
In conclusion, people who would make judgments about other people's life decisions are just as bad as the stupid liberals who thing they should be able to control what we eat, what we earn, what we own, etc.
Oops—thing=think
P.S. Both of the above-mentioned women wanted children. I knew them before they were married, so I believe it to be true.
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