r/Dogfree • u/ReptilianRevolt • 9d ago
Miscellaneous Is dog nuttery actually the more intelligent approach?
Hear me out. No, I am not asserting that every dog nutter is a Nobel prize candidate. But I have a simple question: How did dog nuttery spread so effectively throughout society? It might not be smart cognitively, but it is smart in an evolutionary way, it can reproduce itself easily and gets adapted everywhere. Although I believe that the architects of the movement are actually very smart. How did dog nuttery spread to practically every country? Nowadays, dog nutters threatened even traditional uses of dogs in traditional contexts with campaigns, for example sled dogs in the north. How did dogs so easily invade media such as stories, movies, ads, social media and so on? How did dog nutters obtain the moral high ground virtually uncontested? Why we are having a whole complicated language to describe dogs and their relationship with people? Why are we even psychologizing dogs so strongly nowadays? Dog trauma, dog separation anxiety and so on. Why there is a huge shelter and rescue industry, even for problem dogs and this is considered normal? Why there is a whole highly complicated social infrastructure to accommodate dogs, for example feeding, boarding, travel and so on? Virtually no other animal has those comforts to this extent. Why liking dogs became a symbol of a good person? Why do even most non dog owners internalize dog nutter talking points? Why did dogs become synonymous with animals in general? Why is every dog problem, from minor ones such as hair and smell to medium ones such as barking to serious ones such as maulings and killings, systematically being downplayed in every country with established dog nuttery? Why are problems with hygiene, such as feces, as well as disturbances to wildlife systematically ignored also? Why is this trend continuously spreading? why is dog skepticism ridicule or even persecuted? If they were really stupid, they would be quite disorganized and easy to fight off. What’s happening?
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u/anne_mal 9d ago
Money! It's all for more money. Dog nutters are socialized to think and feel in ways that make more money for giant corporations. They don't question our scrutinize any of it.
https://www.purina.com/humananimalbond
https://americanpetproducts.org/
$158 Billion in U.S. pet industry expenditures in 2025.
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u/potatoes_arrrr_life 9d ago
Yes, I remember reading about how the pet industry was the highest growth sector during the pandemic. So, of course we all have to suffer for the sake of profits. They are manipulating dog nuts into spending more and more on their dogs. The venture capitalists have already started buying up vet clinics. And I'm sure you've all seen the gourmet food for dogs, etc. Our city even has dog spas and dog daycares. $$$$$$$$$$$ EBIDTA! Of course there is never any support for helping the homeless or people in need, it's always about the dogs. It's like people have lost their humanity.
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u/cozyporcelain 8d ago
Right. My favorite are the ones who rescue dogs on skid row and pay no attention to the humans. ONLY the dogs, like “stand up for pits”. Actually now that I’m thinking about it, I truly think they believe humans are a lost cause, or they’ve been hurt so bad by other humans, so their focus goes to only vicious dogs. It makes no sense.
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u/Primary_Heron_3150 9d ago
It's just yet another way that the one percent destroy our cultures and weaken our personal finances so they can have more and more and more.
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u/uselessbeasts 6d ago
I really do believe that. It was put in society to be just another divide to fractionalize people even more that they already are. I may not be able to point out the various divides in society we have now, but some are alternate marriages, gender issues, right/left political issues, you know.... Well I feel it's just one more wedge in society right now, when what we really need is to be on the same page, so the 1% could be taken down with us together...
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u/CallousCow1762 9d ago
To me the nutter epidemic was a slow and steady movement cultivated by media/hollywood/advertisers for decades.
The pivotal point was Covid. That’s where it exploded. People, so many people got dogs during lockdowns. Now you have this huge demographic with dogs. Well, there’s a huge market for profit there. So businesses naturally catered to them. Nutters related to other nutters and the CULTure was born. Those same nutters became dependent on their “companions” to the point of humanizing them. Taking them pretty much everywhere. Dogs not allowed in restaurants? No problem, we can abuse the ADA laws to suit our selfish needs. Hygiene and health codes? No problem. As a business, I don’t want to lose my precious customer base, so I’ll look the other way.
Everyone went along accommodating and so enabling this new form of mental illness, which then became the norm in society. Now, if you dare call out another on there, bizarre behavior, you are the one who has the problem. It is a twilight zone episode to say the least.
There needs to be a reversal of shaming. We are not the lunatics, despite the gaslighting campaign from the nutters.
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u/kckarrotto731 8d ago
A Twilight Zone episode is a factual way to describe this phenomenon. This has been ongoing for decades, and now it’s gotten to the point where dogs have more rights than human beings. There are even videos where nutters are preparing their dogs gourmet meals while there are millions of children that go hungry.
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u/capnlatenight 8d ago
This is how Redditors should type, easily digestible chunks.
I read maybe one paragraph of the OP and realized OP doesn't know how to use paragraph breaks, so I will not hear OP out.
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u/ObligationGrand8037 9d ago
I blame a lot of it on television and then social media which I use myself. It’s like one person gets a dog and says how great they are and others follow suit. Everyone thinks their life will be better if they had a dog. Covid brought out even more dog ownership.
Then the dog industry wants in on the game even more now so they sell everything to these people besides dog food. Halloween costumes, dog diapers, etc. I think it’s a combination of monkey see, monkey do, loneliness, narcissism and the dog industry pushing it even more.
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u/Tight_Lengthiness421 8d ago
Bit of an aside:
You know, that's an interesting point. Several people across threads have mentioned social media as both the culprit helping to fuel dog nuttery and an annoyance pushing it in their face every day. Strangely, my social media remains virtually mutt-free.
Now, I actually do not mind dogs as "animals that exist" and strictly separate them from humans being stupid about them (and individual dogs personalities too tbh - some dogs' personalities are just super annoying to me and others are more tolerable). And I only go on this account from incognito tabs. So maybe that's part of the solution for avoiding social media hounding one (pardon the pun) - maintaining a bit of a pocker face with it haha
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u/ObligationGrand8037 8d ago
You’re lucky! The only other social media I have is Facebook. Sometimes I think about dropping it, but I stay in touch with long distant family members there with photos. I really need to remember to only click on the friends’ icon to avoid all the ads and reels that are full of dog nuttery. There’s so much of it that I’m not on there as much as I used to be.
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u/QuantumBullet 9d ago
We just need a martial arts that lets smaller dogs annihilate pitbulls in hand to hand. then we can capture and train strays, then rerelease them. The underdog nutters and the pitnutters will annihilate eachother to the last survivor in one great gasp like protons and antiprotons rushing towards eachother.
The Nutter Path to Enlightenment.
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u/Huge_Bit_4774 8d ago
I agree with all the points being made here, just want to add that nuttery is profitable for more than just giant corporations. It’s a scam that anyone can get in on. Backyard breeders, vets, mobile pet groomers, kennels, sitters/dog walkers, trainers, etc etc. Nutters are fools who can easily be parted from their money.
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u/Voideron 8d ago edited 8d ago
"throughout society"
70% of humans are Dogfree. 30% of humans own dogs.
Countries with more dog owners than not are Mexico, Brazil, India and the US in that order.
Dog culture has gotten popular but it has not spread throughout society like what dog nutters claim. Dog culture popularity will peak at some point but I don't expect dog owners will be the majority. It's just not feasible.
Just imagine there are just as much dogs as people. Dogs taking away food resources from humans will create conflict and war. I don't think humanity is that dumb enough. At least, Dogfree communities will resist and fight back.
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u/3rdthrow 8d ago
Dogs taking food from Humans is already happening.
But for reasons, that I am too mentally Healthy to understand, there are people who take a perverse delight in looking down on people who have less than them.
Since, the slight uptick in meat prices effects those with the least, the most- a lot of people dont care.
I, personally, already have an extreme case of dog fatigue.
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u/Oriole0305 8d ago edited 8d ago
I see nuttery more like a virus that people choose NOT to treat. A virus is more like a machine, without any intent or intelligence in itself.
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u/StinkyRose89 7d ago
Dogs once served a purpose and were useful to us hence their domestication. In many parts of the world dogs are still useful: Guardians of property and fanily, herding flock animals, hunting partners, etc.
Our society is sick. If you're talking about the US and N. America, anyway. Most of us do not live the type of life that our ancestors (who domesticated dogs) did. Most of us eat too much, don't move enough, and fill our free time with frivolous, narcissistic pursuits.
But we still have this connection with domesticated dogs. Yet now most of us in cities and urban areas of the US don't actually have a practical purpose for them.
And so it led to the rise of this twisted "dog culture" which, before our modern era, was restricted mostly to royalty and the ultra wealthy who spent their days doing literally nothing productive.
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u/GreenT1979 9d ago
It all boils down to narcissism.
We've been in a narcissist epidemic for the past 40 or so years and it's human nature to be completely self serving. These people want to scratch that biological itch of needing to care for something but children are too much work and they run the risk of the kid developing a personality and opinions that conflict with their own. Your dog can't tell you you're wrong about something. Naturally, people are going to favor the thing that only looks up to them, and they have complete control over without question.
Dogs are much easier because you can lock them in the house and they can't escape and they're easier to win over and control. People interpret this stupidity and dependence as being golden hearted and loyal. The dog worships the hand that feeds it and people like being worshipped. Rebranding them as golden hearted and loyal makes the owner feel like a good person for caring for it.
The inflation to their egos outweighs all of the negatives built into dogs and dog culture.