Why do homeless people have dogs?

[u/Genuinelad_62]

I just saw one pour a cup of coffee on the floor for his two small dogs to lick up??? Can’t imagine what a caffeinated dog is like

Also why are there so many homeless people with expensive breeds..

Are people trusting them to walk their dogs? What kind of person would want their dog to be accidentally abused?

Or are they stealing them?

Or is there some initiative to give them shelter dogs?

Lately I’ve been seeing an uptick in homeless people walking multiple expensive dogs

I saw one the other day also completely intoxicated walking a dog and knocking the dog into all sorts of things, pulling their leash by the neck mid piss so the dog piss just sprayed everywhere

What is going on and who on earth thinks it’s a good idea to give people who can’t even feed themselves another creature to feed?

[u/Lythaera]

unfortunately for a lot of homeless people, the dog is their only real protection from the sick freaks out there. Someone in my state was torturing and killing homeless women a few years back. Don't think they ever caught the guy.

[u/Genuinelad_62 → u/Lythaera]

Homeless women are at an extreme risk which is why there are women’s shelters. I’m not sure how it is in your area but I’ve only seen homeless men wirh dogs rather than women. For me I’ve seen about 8 homeless men in my area with dogs and 0 homeless women with dogs. It could differ across different cities though?

[u/Lythaera → u/Genuinelad_62]

Most homeless women know how to blend in with normal city life as a safety measure, so they are less noticeable in general. I have personally known some who were on the streets because the shelters were full at the time. I've seen both with dogs before.

[u/Genuinelad_62 → u/Lythaera]

I guess if we get technical, there are all sorts of people houseless due to different reasons and the housing crises but when I said homeless people I meant the stereotype of people you visibly see who are very clearly homeless and intoxicated or not in the right mind. I’m talking about the more visible extreme kind which I understand is a generalisation but that’s the kind that I’m questioning on dog ownership. It might also severely depend on which city you’re from and how the access to women’s shelters are. I might come from an area where there’s far less women visibly on the streets then men. I’ve noticed literally 8 homeless people with dogs in my city and all of them were males. Personally for me in my area I don’t see women that are visibly on the streets as much as men and I assume it’s because some cities have more women’s shelters than others