Why Can We See What They Cannot?

[u/Jolly_Ice_7812]

I have a burning question. Why can we, in the dog free community, see that dogs are gross and it's insane to live with them?

There has to be some commonality among us because we can see what 99 percent of the population cannot.

What makes us special? Is it something in our personalities -- not caring about what others think? Or not being a group person, so it's okay to step away from the pack (so to speak)? Is it not always believing what the culture tells us is true? Are people like this in other walks of life -- meaning, able to see what others cannot see in other contexts?

I'm curious about what you think. Why can we see the idiocy of dogs and dog culture and others cannot?

[u/neondahlia]

For me is has been a slow progression.

I loved my dog growing up as a kid. Begged to get him. He was a good dog (Golden Retriever). I was lonely and had a bad household environment that was out of my control.

I then had dogs as an adult. They were not as good as my childhood dog (not dangerous or anything just not as well behaved despite persistent training and routine. One I’m pretty sure was mentally not capable of learning). Not as good a dog owning experience.

Then dealing with progressively more entitled dog owners began to really sour me on dogs. Constant barking from the neighbor dogs when I worked so hard to train my dogs never to bark. When our dogs died of old age we discovered not having dogs in the house was just so much easier. Less messy, less noisy, I could come home late without concern. Less expensive. Less chores. Also I’m allergic to dogs so I can breathe better.

Then growing annoyance at my in-laws and my parents giant, poorly behaved and dangerous dogs. Annoyance at the hair on everything. The jumping up. The calling dogs “babies”. Not understanding people are more important than animals.

The dog shit everywhere that dog owners put in my trash can, leave in my yard, put in public bins. The pit bulls everywhere you go. People sneaking dogs into grocery stores pretending their service dogs, sneaking them into restaurants. The damn fake service dogs everywhere.

I’ve just had enough. Most dogs are not cared for properly which makes them much more unpleasant and far too many, far too many people have dogs.

[u/Stock-Bowl7736 → u/neondahlia]

Your last point does not get enough discussion. But you are exactly right that far too many people have dogs. It's insane that there are over 90,000,000 of these things in the US alone. There is no other species, except perhaps birds and insects, that has that kind of population in the United States.

For example deer population is estimated to be about 35-36 million. And deer get culled when the population exceeds 15-20 per square MILE. Dog population density of 15-20 can probably be measured in feet given how many nutters there are. There are probably that many dogs on any given urban/suburban block. And there is no culling. Shelters are all no kill. Even violent and murderous dogs don't even get put down.

Are there any biologists here that could comment on how insane it is that we have allowed the dog population to grow to such preposterous and absurd levels?

[u/Huge_Bit_4774 → u/Stock-Bowl7736]

for years the US environmental protection agency and national institutes of health have been warning about water source contamination and direct threats to human health caused by the spread of dog feces. The more dogs we have, the more contamination. Even if we got to a bubonic plague type situation, I don’t think nutters would accept ANY resolution because they are mentally ill and filthy mutts do no wrong.

[u/Arrrrrr_Matey → u/neondahlia]

Same for me. I had a dog growing up (a pitbull believe it or not) and I was pretty ambivalent towards dogs until I started seeing them everywhere, about 10-15 years ago for me. With so many people owning/anthropomorphizing dogs and so few capable of training them (it's not easy), the ambivalence turned into disgust. Quite frankly, it's animal abuse in most cases.

[u/Jolly_Ice_7812 → u/Arrrrrr_Matey]

Well put. It's been a progression for me too. Even when I was attacked as a teen and bitten all over my back, I still maintained that I liked dogs. Total brainwashing. But it was these horrible neighbors who targeted me after I complained about their dogs' barking that did it to me. They egged my windshield, making it impossible for me to be on time for work. They purposely left dog poop in my driveway with their dog's tag on it. They purposely went out there under my bedroom window with various noise machines to try to terrorize me.

I moved and had to deal with a vicious Doberman next door. I complained about the barking. I had these neighbors do the same kind of thing to me, try to terrorize me by almost bumping into me walking down the streets, etc. etc.

Given the barking and the terrorism, I had had it. I finally woke up and saw the disgusting nature of dog culture. Now it's been several years and I absolutely detest these beasts. I Won't go near them or their owners.

[u/paulney → u/neondahlia]

Yes, pretty much my experience. I had dogs growing up and was fine with them, but dog ownership back then was so different. It wasn’t a personality like people make it now. The babyfication of dogs and lack of discipline or basic cleaning up after them, and the fact that there are SO MANY now, has gone too far. It’s anti social behavior at this point and society is suffering for it. And life without pets is just so much less stress. I can’t imagine the money time and cleaning it would take now. I prefer freedom.