The unfortunate thing is that they also keep me informed of relatively unthreatening things going on around my house, like ghosts, floating dust bunnies, and things that go bump in the night that only cats can see or care about.
Posted on 02/04/2023 2:19:39 AM PST by allen592
Most people adopt a rescue dog when they’re seeking companionship. Eventually, most adopted dogs turned out to be the saviors of their owners' lives. As a result, these people got a second chance at life, thanks to the dogs they adopted.
The unfortunate thing is that they also keep me informed of relatively unthreatening things going on around my house, like ghosts, floating dust bunnies, and things that go bump in the night that only cats can see or care about.
Is all of this dog idolatry merely a symptom of the decline of our civilization- or actually contributing to it?
Only on freerepublic can feel good stories like this get flamed.
I was raised with a German Shephard. He was my constant companion for 15 (back in the days when a boy’s dog could run off leash everywhere the boy went).
Our local elementary and Junior high were within walking distance and a gaggle of kids from my neighborhood would make the 20 minute trek to and from every day , rain or shine.
My dog would go with us, lay down outside the classes back door, play with all the kids during recess. An adult that was not a teacher approached a random kid on the edge of the playground once. The dog put him on the road. Turns out the individual had “kid issues”.
My cross street neighbor’s was (and still is ) my best friend. His dad heard my dad brag about the dog’s protective instincts and decided , against my father’s advice , to feign a physical attack on the 6 yo me. Now the dog knew and had seen this individual regularly for all 3 years of his life. He lost his mind and chased my friends dad to his home, stood on his porch snarling for a full 5 minutes before being convinced that all was good. They gave each other a wide berth from then on and my buddy got his own shepherd a few weeks later.
I know dogs aren’t human. I would never place human life over canine life, (well with a very few exceptions) but I loved that dog and went into a long period of mourning after his demise at 16 years old.
Rigged!!! Lassie didn’t even make top 5.
“back in the days when a boy’s dog could run off leash everywhere”
Oh please. You can’t go anywhere these days without encountering dogs off leash. Including and especially public spaces like beaches and parks even where there are signs saying “dogs must be leashed”. And when you ask the owners, politely, to please leash the dog as the sign says - they scream at you!
But yes if only we could go back to the time when people generally treated dogs as household pets and respected their fellow human beings.
Which brings me back to my question: is today’s dog>human thing more a symptom or a contributor to the decline of our society?
I would have drowned at 12 if it wasn’t for my British black lab. I was bodysurfing on a dropping tide. I kept getting taken out beyond the breakers. Eventually I was 400 yards offshore caught, in an outrip. Totally exhausted. I couldn’t even raise an arm. I was done. She spotted me from shore while chasing Frisbees. Stared at me than plunged into the surf. Came out, turned around in front of me. I grabbed her tail and she towed me in to a sand bar just off shore. It took 10 minutes on hands and knees before I could stand to walk in.
Good question, and I’d say a symptom.
It’s weird how mentioning that seems to make people think you are discounting all the good that dogs do.
You never said that, nor even implied it in your question and yet you are getting attacked.
Because it was discovered he had pushed Timmmy into the well......
That’s a wonderful account but and recognizing that does not fall into the dog idolatry category to which AC86UT89 is referring.
And it’s not just dogs. It’s all animals. People buy their pets organic, all natural, no artificial ingredients added pet food, and feed their kids junk. They won’t feed hummingbirds red colored hummingbird food, yet brush off when you point out that their kids are drinking blue gatorade out of their bottles.
They freak out about mistreating animals and slaughterhouses and yet support abortion on demand up to the moment of birth.
People most certainly are responsible to treat animals well, as they depend on us for a lot and it’s basically our job to do so, but to elevate them to levels above which people are is wrong. They are still animals and need to be related to as such.
Too many dogs are good for nothing anymore, except eating and waning to be pet. I blame it on a switch to breeding for profit and not desired traits.
Dogs fail in protecting owners from realistic fake, hidden camera attacks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ74oFctP_g
It could be the “most save lives” claim that sets some off. Author seriously needs to hire a proofreader, or up his own skills.
Got between me and my grandma on my dad's side. He didn't bite or anything....just growled.
Dogs are amazing animals. But they are animals. We have to remember that.
“...the dog idolatry category to which AC86UT89 is referring.”
Well, the article/thread is titled “Hero Dogs Who Saved Their Owner’s Life...”. Not sure where dog idolatry comes into it. Two separate topics imo.
They were just dogs doing what dogs sometimes do. They were not “heroes”.
Certainly not in the sense in which humans are when fully cognizant of the danger to themselves and the risk they are taking, overcome their natural instinct of self-preservation, and they CHOOSE to risk their lives to save someone else’s.
We had a female German Shepherd that my kids could crawl on but God help you if you tried to come into our yard while the kids were out and she didn’t know you. Had to put her down though. She bit a neighbors friend through his jeans on the back of his calf. Neighbor said the dog was OK with the friend but when his wife came out to say hi, the GS started acting nervous. Only thing we could figure was she was being protective of his wife.
if dogs that are fine with everybody else don’t like somebody there is a reason.
Yep! For example, as a young kid, my family had a wonderful Labrador, with the usual and wonderful Labrador personality. Then he met my Uncle, who, as the County Coroner, had just dragged a body up from the bottom of a nearby lake. It was the first time they’d met, and our boy went completely apeshit— snarling, barking, hackles up, in full protective mode. The scent of death on an apparently living man must have, in my theory, led him to believe my Uncle was a zombie...
Our German Shepherd had a weird personality. My wife’s grandmother who owned dogs all of her life and was comfortable around them just set her off. She really ran hot and cold but after she came up behind the guy and bit him, I had to put her down. Told her vet the story and he stated that an unprovoked bite are dangerous and the first one was free. Next one could have cost me my house.
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