Financial and Commercial Interests
Some people explain the current pet fad by a growing compassion of society towards animals and humans. Others, like the author of this article, see in this animal madness erroneous beliefs dating back to the 19th century, when it was falsely believed, that a relationship with a pet could improve the moral and spiritual fibre of mankind. American child psychiatrist, Boris Levinson, the instigator of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), consecrated these false notions into “science” in the sixties. The pet industry, sniffing a golden opportunity to improve business used this pseudoscience to stimulate the demand for pets and the sale of goods and services. Their marketing campaign was a huge success. Today, one out of two households now has one or more animals and America and most Western countries have literally gone pet crazy. (36)
To give you an idea of the economic importance of this industry in America, it is the eighth in importance of the retail trade, ; it is larger than that of toys, hardware, and jewellery. According to the American Association of Pet Products, its annual turnover went from 17 billion US dollars in 1994 to 63 billion in 2016. (37)
The Humanization of Animals From the beginning of domestication, our ancestors in their great wisdom worked hard to erect a barrier between animals and humans in order to avoid falling into the trap of animal humanization
Orly?
Just sounds like somebody pretending to know something but actually knows next to nothing on the human-dog relationship. — at least from what little I read.
Almost reminds me of a Vet/Baptist minister I visited once (1). He had his priorities wrong. Go to vet to help your dog, go to church to help your soul.
I have pointed out before in Albuquerque shelters there is on average 140-150 pit bull and pit bull mixes up for adoption and given month that’s and average of 1600 to 1800 doges a year. Now (put aside the mental harm and damaged caused by the abandonment and abuse) many of FR’s resident pitbull expert tell us that these dogs are safe when handled by trained skilled people. There are that meny people with those skills and training in the whole city for one years worth of these dogs much less the numbers being turned our year after year.
The Humanization of Animals is almost impossible to avoid.
Another phrase would be ‘domestication’, which is the very least we can expect from a pet that we take care of.
Some animals are capable of a more intense degree of domestication than others. Many times the tendency is genetic, as with a dog and a wolf. Other times the ease of domesticating an animal becomes more a matter of circumstance. Some creatures of the woods can be trained to live with humans if the environment is there very early in their lives.
They need to be imprinted with the muscle memory of coexistence. I have seen squirrels, ravens, deer and raccoons treated as pets. The sad part is that many have to chose one lifestyle over the other. Once a fawn has the scent of Man on it, the Doe may reject him as a clear and present danger.
Supposedly only 5% of dog owners even bother to train their dogs, even the barest minimum stay, sit, no, come. That makes for miserable dogs and miserable people. I have never been around a trained small dog, they are much more likely to jerks or morons than bigger dogs, at least that I have observed. That might be a brain size thing, I don’t know. But I would sure rather be nipped by an untrained jerk terrier than an untrained jerk pit bull.
Freegards
Making it up as he goes along, it appears.
Man domesticated the dog, but cats domesticated themselves.
Most folks know of at least one case where the pet owner(s) loved the pet(s) more than their own children. Sadly, I am one that knows of such a family. My wife and I used to visit them when their son and daughter were school age, and those kids attended our church. We could see how the father would caress his dogs, and notice how the kids were just ordered around, and criticized.
The kids were jealous of the dogs. I remember the daughter telling us about one of the dogs dying, and the family burying the animal: “everybody was crying, especially dad, who I had never seen cry before. I said to the rest of the family, “why are we crying, it was only a dog’”.
The kids grew up with a resentment for their dad that continues to this day.
About all I got out of this article was yes; we westerners like our dogs.
As a life-long dog lover and “owner”; I know dogs don’t feel “love” the same way we do. They do feel deep affection, appreciation, jealousy, pain, sadness, and pretty much everything else humans do so it comes as no surprise to me that some people will humanize (within reason) their dogs. I see my 4 dogs as my fur kids but I never forget they are animals and not human kids. Their intellect varies somewhere between 2 or 4 years old of a human though. Dogs are twice as smart as cats. They can learn at least 200 words and signs. Is it really any wonder human fall deeply in love with their dogs even when we know they can’t return that love in the same way. However; what they lack in their ability to love like we do they make up for in pure loyalty and what some folks call unconditional love which we know is a deep affection. Not the love we feel. What is love but a bunch of chemicals and neurons working together to give us that feeling anyway?
As for those sick freaks who have sex of any kind with animals... disgusting.
I will agree on one point about Pit Bulls. They are not all the same. They have different temperaments and some have a naturally aggressive nature. Some are alpha’s so they want to be in charge. They can get testy and get into fights with dogs who get out of line. I freely admit I would be hesitant to have a Pit around small children. Well; one of the aggressive ones anyway. Some are as docile as a lamb. I also know kids do stupid things when no one is looking. Sometimes they do things to animals that can make them mean. Kids can be real idiots. I have to wonder when I hear of a dog attacking a family member if that member did something to that dog; regardless of breed.
Pit’s were chosen to be fight dogs because of their muscular strong bodies and strong jaws but the biggest reason is they are so malleable and compliant to what their human wants from them. As far as I’m concerned; anyone who uses and abuses any dog for dog fighting is good for only one thing. To fill a grave. Better yet; just turn them into dust via cremation and flush them down the toilet.
Those who poach animals deserve the same treatment. Kill them and feed them to the wild meat eaters in the wild. Karma is a wonderful thing. Poetic justice.
The OP of this thread appears to be on a vendetta against Pit Bulls for some unfathomable reason. It should be balanced with opinions from the other side. I guess I will be one of those.
I love my two dogs and they love me. They are not aggressive but would lay down their life for me if I was in danger.
Hell would freeze over before I own a pit bull.
Charles Danten, former veterinarian.....
Would AI robots kill all Pit Bulls because it was logical?
They are good for me emotionally. They calm and soothe me. But they are no substitute for human companionship. I'm glad I have them, but they are not "furry children."