I've had a lot of younger people (ahem Millennials and mostly hipsters at that) try to tell me that "parenting" a dog was more or less the same as parenting actual human beings. Yeah, okay.
It's also a bit of Peter Pan Syndrome as well (fear of growing up). Proper parenting requires that one become a proper grown up, and a lot of the Millennials - and again, a lot of today's hipsters - are deathly afraid of growing up for real. Having a dog can make you feel like you're a grown up / responsible for something without the permanent commitment that comes with raising a child.
The only way that is close to true is if they do NOT perform their responsibility of PROPERLY raising and TRAINING a dog, as few Americans ever have. Then, the dog is a perpetual nuisance who must constantly be supervised for 10 years like a child.
Properly picking and raising a dog is hard work but done seriously, it can all be finished within one year and life can be pleasant and easy.