Too Many People Own Dogs
www.theatlantic.com
If you love dogs, maybe don’t get one.
  • LvxferreEnglish
    5•9 months ago

    I’m not a doctor or a vet but this whole thing disgusts me. I’ll show why with a “switch roles” example.

    Let’s say that Fido (a dog) adopts a human, and call it (yup) Bob.

    Bob has a nasty tendency to make weird, disgusting mouth noises. Fido hates it so Fido scolds it every time, until Bob stopped with the mouth noises. But once Fido gets a visit (another dog, of course), Bob is back at its “blooud skwerl buka blorg” businesses. Bob is broken, it needs to be fixed, so Fido sends it to a vet.

    The vet prescribes some meds to fix Bob. It works~ look at Bob, it stopped doing the disgusting mouth noises! But now Bob is barely eating. No problem - needs moar meds. And so goes on, while Fido drain his pockets.

    …or alternatively Fido should’ve realised that talking is a human instinct and necessity, and provide Bob with the necessary environment so it could talk with other humans, or even with dogs if it so desires. Or give up the idea of having a pet human.

    That’s the same case here. Dogs are social and active animals; they need to play and interact with other dogs, they need to run, shit like this. Just like we humans need to talk. Howling is a symptom of loneliness and boredom; pouncing is how they invite each other to play.

    Perhaps the most valuable treatment Bain offered, however, was for the human, not the dog. “Honestly, it just felt cathartic in many ways,” Munt told me. “She said, ‘It’s Maisie. It’s not you. You have done everything you need to do.’”

    The “treatment” that the vet offered is some bullshit that protects Munt’s precious, OH SO PRECIOUS!!1, feelings. The truth is that Munt is simply in no position to offer Maisie an environment suitable for a dog.

  • XIIIesqEnglish
    2•9 months ago

    Same reason so many people are. We live in a society where treating the root cause of mental health issues is increasingly harder than treating the symptoms.

  • @Chais@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2•8 months ago

    I mean, our cat is on Prozac. You might attribute that to her previous family declawing her front paws, then dropping her off at the SPCA after she developed litter box problems.
    Because, you know, amputating her first digits on two paws might be sorta painful and make weird to walk around like you’re used to. And then they abandon you. I kinda understand there might be some anxiety.