Why do humans deserve dogs?

[montee916]

I would read the ever-loving hell out of this book if it ever got written.

[Deleted]

Apr 8, 2017 15:57:19 GMT -5 bootytea said:

Apr 8, 2017 15:37:53 GMT -5 Gravedigger's Biscuits said:

So if it was up to you, you'd just have every dog around the world roam the streets?

That sounds like a terrible idea. Most of them receive far better treatment by living with humans than they would living on the streets.

I think if given the choice, a dog would prefer freedom over imprisonment

This is the same mentality that people have when they go into villages and "civilize" other cultures.

Animals are meant to live life a certain way. Sure you can argue our lifestyle is why we live longer and are healthier, but I can't agree its in a dogs best interest to spend their lifetime treated as a toddler for the amusement of another creature. 

I've had my dog for 10 years now. He's had several opportunities to run away and didn't. He ran off twice and both times he was pawing at the front door trying to get back in the house. My family says he cries and pouts the entire time I'm gone. He is not my prisoner. He has every opportunity to leave. He chooses not to. He'd rather have a roof over his head, food to eat, and someone to play with. And he thinks couches and beds are more comfortable than sidewalks.

[bootytea]

Apr 8, 2017 19:50:03 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Apr 8, 2017 15:57:19 GMT -5 bootytea said:

I think if given the choice, a dog would prefer freedom over imprisonment

This is the same mentality that people have when they go into villages and "civilize" other cultures.

Animals are meant to live life a certain way. Sure you can argue our lifestyle is why we live longer and are healthier, but I can't agree its in a dogs best interest to spend their lifetime treated as a toddler for the amusement of another creature. 

I've had my dog for 10 years now. He's had several opportunities to run away and didn't. He ran off twice and both times he was pawing at the front door trying to get back in the house. My family says he cries and pouts the entire time I'm gone. He is not my prisoner. He has every opportunity to leave. He chooses not to. He'd rather have a roof over his head, food to eat, and someone to play with. And he thinks couches and beds are more comfortable than sidewalks.

That's because he has been conditioned from birth to be owned by you.

It's like sending someone from the city to go fend for themselves in rural areas.

As far as I know you're not a dog so there's no way you can train your dog the same way dogs naturally teach each other to live.

I know arguing this will go nowhere which is why I tried to drop it in the first place. What others may see as taking care of a vulnerable creature, I see as putting them in an unnatural environment.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Dogs made the decision to hang out with humans because we feed them. It made survival easier for them. Its in Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson

[J. Hova]

Simply put, we don't deserve dogs. I could probably make an argument that they are a higher form of life (we feed THEM, we pay attention to THEM, we bathe THEM, etc.).

My 13 year old lab/chow mix died last year and I miss him terribly and think about him every day and how I wish he was still with me or how he would have loved that day (he loved the snow for instance and would come back inside looking like a snowball with black legs after a good snowfall). He was my best friend and if you met him and scratched his ears, belly, or God forbid fed him something, he was your new best friend too. He was probably the world's worst guard dog.

As far as the ongoing debate in this thread, what the hell, I'll chime in...

The ship has done sailed on this. We domesticated them. Quite frankly, as a whole, the species would have a tough time surviving in the wild now. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. Dogs are safer, live longer, and have a higher quality of life being domesticated. Studies have shown that people who own dogs are healthier, live longer, etc. than people who don't.

The imprisonment angle is a little interesting. I had the aforementioned dog on an invisible fence system. I would have loved to have had 200 acres for him to run roughshod all over but I didn't. It was for his own safety. On the rare instances that he got loose from it, one of 2 things would happen. He either came back in an hour or so or he went to my parents' house (same neighborhood a couple of streets over and he was extremely close to them).

[Deleted]

So what kind of dogs do everyone have?

My family has 2 little chihuahuas, one is 10 and the other 6. In fact we got them from the same breeder so they are brother and sister. Though the older one had a few health problems a few years ago, he's healthy again and still a fun little guy to be with.

[segaz]

Apr 8, 2017 7:16:54 GMT -5 SmashTV said:

Apr 8, 2017 6:59:25 GMT -5 @razzle said:

Dogs are always awesome. They don't talk back, dont try to hurt you emotionally or judge you. Just want to play and love you

This.

It's many years of loyalty, laughter and love. Dogs rock.

Except for the vicious ones who attack you. Apart from those dogs, dogs are great.

[The Ichi]

We don't deserve them, but we need them.

[Nr1Humanoid]

Just once in my lifetime, I'd love to grab a dog owner by his elbow and pull him away when he's trying to piss, asking him how he f***ing likes it.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Apr 8, 2017 15:57:19 GMT -5 bootytea said:

Apr 8, 2017 15:37:53 GMT -5 Gravedigger's Biscuits said:

So if it was up to you, you'd just have every dog around the world roam the streets?

That sounds like a terrible idea. Most of them receive far better treatment by living with humans than they would living on the streets.

I think if given the choice, a dog would prefer freedom over imprisonment

This is the same mentality that people have when they go into villages and "civilize" other cultures.

Animals are meant to live life a certain way. Sure you can argue our lifestyle is why we live longer and are healthier, but I can't agree its in a dogs best interest to spend their lifetime treated as a toddler for the amusement of another creature. 

You know dogs are all descended from wolves because we selectively bred them? From a husky down to a tea cup poodle? Wolves.

[Deleted]

Because I gave my dog some snausages in 1996 and I've washed my hands multiple times since then and I can't get that stink off me fingers.That my friends is called sacrifice.

[bootytea]

Apr 9, 2017 18:26:54 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Apr 8, 2017 15:57:19 GMT -5 bootytea said:

I think if given the choice, a dog would prefer freedom over imprisonment

This is the same mentality that people have when they go into villages and "civilize" other cultures.

Animals are meant to live life a certain way. Sure you can argue our lifestyle is why we live longer and are healthier, but I can't agree its in a dogs best interest to spend their lifetime treated as a toddler for the amusement of another creature. 

You know dogs are all descended from wolves because we selectively bred them? From a husky down to a tea cup poodle? Wolves.

I'm not sure I understand your point.

So we stopped them from being vicious? lol 

[SmashTV]

Apr 9, 2017 8:30:54 GMT -5 @razzle said:

So what kind of dogs do everyone have?

I've got a tricolour (black, white and tan) border collie called Oscar. 12 years old this year, daft as a brush, chronically bad breath, moults everywhere but I wouldn't change him for the world.