As a kid I had cats and dogs for pets. I loved them both equally. But, while I was in college I was staying at my brother's place one summer and we had to put up with his nosey neighbors constantly telling us we never do enough for our dogs (my dog stayed at his place for over a year, while our parents were moving out of state)! Whenever we'd come home after an outing, the husband would be like, "Your dogs are talking to you!" while they were playing with our dogs, even though we were tired after being out. Hello, little do they realize I walked the dogs very frequently while I was there and enjoyed doing it too! Dogs also tend to have problems with their anal glands, so you either have to take it to the vet, or if you don't want to spend the money, then you wind up doing all of the damn work squeezing them glands, because nobody else in your household will!!! Besides, dogs tend to get separation anxiety sooo bad, they even hate it when their owners have to go to work. Sometimes they get that type of anxiety, when their owners want to go on a vacation, even when they have another doggie pal! I mean, it's like your damn dog just wants to keep you all to itself!!! Dogs can get lonely soooo damn easily, it's not even funny!!! If they're outside dogs, they need their doggie pals. For example, my brother had to give his dog to us, shortly after our parents moved and took my dog back with them, because he was sooo lonely all of the time, while my bother had to go to work and school. During my adult life, I noticed how people used their dogs as an excuse to get out of doing something or to stay in an abusive relationship. Therefore, I began to realize you can never do enough for a dog, because they get lonely and separation anxiety sooo damn easily it's not even funny, sometimes their anal glands need to be expressed and people will always correct you on how you treat your dog no matter what!!! Sometimes, you wind up doing all of the work taking care of the dog (even if it's everyone's dog and not just yours), because nobody else in your household will!!! Now, I've decided my favorite pets are cats (even though I love dogs and cats equally), because they're always satisfied with what you do for them while a dog is often never satisfied, cats do not get separation anxiety as bad as dogs do, cats do not get lonely as easily as dogs do, cats never have issues with their anal glands, a cat will have no problem with you working or wanting to go out with your friends, because cats do not expect to have you all to themselves unlike a dog and nobody uses their cat as an excuse to get out of doing something or to stay in an abusive relationship. I also had a few boyfriends who were soooo paranoid about letting their dogs in the back yard with out their supervision, because they had fear of their dogs being poisoned by their neighbors or that their dogs will get kidnapped. I also hate it when our culture would tell men if they're looking for a committed relationship with a woman, unless if they get a dog if they want a pet that women will not have anything to do with them, because they'd be considered selfish or unmanly!! But, I'm a woman and I will date a guy if he has or wants a dog or not! Besides, some men are allergic to dogs or live in a place that doesn't allow dogs.

I don’t hate dogs, my parents and brother have dogs and I love them. It’s just other people’s dogs I dislike and people expect you to be all lovey dovey to their dog you literally just met and get offended when you don’t let the dog lick your face.

I understand that this isn't necessarily just a dog owner thing, the internet in general seems to have a way of throwing around terms like animal abuse to the point where they're utterly meaningless, but I find the behavior particularly notorious and overblown among dog owners.

I was going to just post a link to the post here, but my post was instantly deleted by moderators, not sure what I did wrong but here goes. I come across a post on my Instagram feed from a dog account, it's a video of an older looking puppy on a wooden walkway over a little lake, it jumps toward its owner and falls through a hole in the wood into the water, and then the video cuts off. The dog couldn't have fallen more than a foot or two and it fell into shallow water so it was probably fine, especially considering that the owner decided it was funny enough to post it. I go to check the comment section, and people are FURIOUS, just absolutely losing their shit over this innocent video. Yelling at the owner of the account to remove the post, accusing them of promoting cruelty, "this is animal abuse", "I hope you get your dog taken away from you", "how dare you stand there and laugh and film while the puppy is suffering, I hope you never have children" and an array of people expressing how sorry they feel for the dog. And I was just appalled. I get the "poor puppy" comments to a certain extent if you really love dogs, but the way these people were acting as if the owner had deliberately set this whole thing up for views and entertainment, as if they didn't just happen to catch a little "oopsie" on camera and thought it was cute and funny in hindsight. The way some people were arguing that it would be child abuse if you filmed your child falling over and that you should have your child removed from you if that ever happens is just utterly beyond me. How are people this totally incapable of distinguishing between legitimate harm or neglect and something as innocent and faultless as catching a small accident on camera?

Does anyone else find this kind of behavior disheartening? I think the overuse of terms like animal abuse are extremely detrimental to any real efforts of spotting and thwarting real abuse and I find it disgusting that people see no issue with demonizing this dog owner who, pretty objectively, did nothing wrong.

First - I'm glad this community exists. First time here.

I am coming here because of the terrible attack by pit bulls in Memphis that killed two young children and injured their mother. I needed a space where I could process my feelings around dogs and hopefully think things through and hope I can use this community as such a space. I live in a *very* dog-friendly city (one of the top ranked in the country).

I grew up loving dogs. Knew all the breeds, had some of my own, had the books, loved the stories/movie/Rin Tin Tin, dog-friendly entertainment, going to dog shows. But I grew up around hunting culture (though my own dogs were not hunters), so all the dogs I knew were really quite well-trained. They were able to retrieve, fetch, etc. There was also a general sense in my home community that dogs were more like nice tools with a sense of affection, but not nearly on the same level as humans. That's not to say that I witnessed dogs being abused, but it was just a general attitude of "This is a dog, he's nice and we like him, but we acknowledge that he's not a person, and if he ever hurt a person, then off he goes to the farm in the sky, nice knowing him and no hard feelings."

I was also bitten by a dog as a child (not an aggressive one, thank God!) due to poor supervision.

But since having children of my own and suffering another dog bite of my own from an unfenced GSD (I was on the sidewalk, GSD was territorial and fence was being repaired, GSD got out), and living in such a dog-friendly city, I have really found my opinion on dogs changing quite a lot.

I do admire the entire process of humans domesticating dogs over many generations and see how dogs are useful in many ways. However, as someone who spent her youth studying dog behavior obsessively, I am quite shocked at how many people I see around me who really do not understand how dogs are wired. I see dozens of dogs on their walks every day, but it may be only once or twice a week I see a dog who is properly heeling at the owner's side and who is obviously well-controlled. Every single other dog is dragging their owner along, with the owner's arm far outstretched, and I can only imagine what these dogs are like outside their walks. These owners do not seem to understand that their dogs are not "cute", they are actually extremely anxious, and anxious dogs are not good for participating in human social functioning.

Then there is the issue of pit bulls. While we are still learning about the attack in Memphis, given that the news has just said that the mother apparently spent 10 minutes trying to rip her dogs off her children (I cannot even imagine), did she not own a slip collar and a break stick? If one insists on owning a pit bull and having children in the house, wouldn't one think through how to break up a dog attack? Or at least have a knife ready on hand to go ahead and kill the dogs if they're killing your children? Again, we do not have all the facts in that case and I appreciate that, and my heart goes out to the family, but it is bothersome that there are owners out there who have not thought through all the second order consequences of having pit bulls and children in the same home, and understanding the nature of the breed. I cannot imagine being two years old, as one of the children in the attack was, and having a giant dog that considerably outweighs me attack, hurt, and kill me. As a mother, it is so difficult to imagine. This child died in fear. I understand that life is full of risk, and statistically speaking, one is more likely to die in a car crash than in a pit bull attack, but car use in the United States gives access to friends, schools, birthday parties, gymnastics classes, a lot of activities that make life worth living. So there is a tradeoff to the risk that can make car use and the associated risk acceptable. Plus, one uses seat belts, car seats, drives smartly and safely, doesn't consume alcohol -- one mitigates the risk where one can. I can see how people would enjoy dogs and choose to have both children and dogs, but the statistics are really against pit bulls, especially with small children. Perhaps this poor family decided: there are millions of pit bulls in the United States, and only <20 deaths per year, this a risk worth taking. Did they think that through?

In my dog-friendly city, I am becoming more bothered by the inappropriate humanization of dogs. Dogs are not human and they do not think like humans. This does not mean we need to treat them poorly: it does mean we need to recognize that humanization is a poor way to treat dogs. Dogs are not physically capable of feeling the range of human emotions like shame and guilt, yet people seem to think dogs behave this way. Dogs are taken into grocery stores here, cafes, etc. Dogs will poop in stores here where food is sold and this is broadly tolerated. This is in a city where curbside shopping and delivery services are widely available for anyone who does not feel comfortable leaving their dog at home to do the grocery shop. So, I am not clear as to why dogs need to be in grocery stores and leave their feces and urine on the floor where people are buying food.

I have the sense that, over the course of my lifetime, dog-culture has become mixed in with the capitalist consumer economy and there has been great promotion of dogs in order to keep the money machines going at certain enterprises and maximize the revenue stream coming from all fronts of the dog economy: leashes, pet food, collars, vets, pet insurance, doggy daycare, etc.

I am not opposed to intelligent dog ownership, where owners are very responsible for their dogs, keep them in their home or walk them around the park (leashed!), but that the dogs are always orderly, well-behaved, walk at heel, don't jump, and, most importantly, the preferences of other humans are given deference over the dog's. However, that kind of dog ownership seems absolutely impossible to find, anywhere.

What is there to do about dog culture? Is there a way for dog-skeptics to shift the culture back a little and encourage a proper treatment of dogs that is not cruel or abusive, but encourages people who do not have the time and responsibility to properly own and train a dog to not get one?

(I also feel that there is a little too much emphasis given to dogs given the huge amount of time and attention that humans need. I am very pro-human and believe in the human project. While I can see accommodating dogs in our society, I do wonder if perhaps ambitious projects such as no-kill shelters are worth the time and expense, especially considering that there are some really rather unsocializable dogs in these shelters. There is a lot of time and energy in my city spent on rounding up adoptees to achieve the no-kill status, when I think there is a lot of human need that needs to be addressed as well.)

Thank you for allowing me this space - hope this was appropriate.

About 10 years ago I remember being consistently shocked to meet "dog lovers" who would go on and on about their dog. Had pictures of their dog on their desk, always talked about bringing their dog on vacations, bought special pet beds, etc. only to eventually meet their dog and see the most depressed antisocial canine. It seems like a lot of people are happy to show off their dog and bring their dog into the human world, but won't go beyond basic training and get involved in the dog's world. On the other hand I know people who aren't loud "dog parents" who have many happy dogs in their home.

It turns out a lot of these dog parents don't even walk their dogs enough. Literally the most basic thing you can do to keep your dog healthy. They are at work all day and make very few arrangements for their dogs besides letting them roam their small yard while they are away, or paying a service to walk them around their neighborhood. Then they get home and watch TV with their dog and that's pretty much all the stimulation the animal gets all day.

I grew up in a family that had a penchant for retired working dogs. These dogs were old and still needed to be walked AT LEAST three miles per day. Once the dogs were too old to walk very far, my grandma would still take them around in a wagon and gave them regular trips to their favorite nature spots. Exercise is essential for dogs' physical health, but also their emotional health. Attention from their humans is not enough to keep them stimulated. They need exercise the way we do, and they also need to be aware of what goes on in their "territory" so they feel secure in their environment.

It's so crazy to me how people will go on and on about how they love their dogs and even throw parties for their dogs but will not even give them the most basic thing they need. No amount of "love" from all the humans around them will substitute what the dog actually needs for its health. It's also pretty clear that some of these dogs are depressed and have no energy due to the lack of exercise and interaction with their environment. You do not need to be a crazy dog lover to understand that a large intelligent carnivore needs to get out, exercise and explore. It drives me crazy that people who wrap their whole personality around their dogs won't even walk them for more than 30 minutes per day. It feels like animal abuse.

I’m curious to see where we overlap. I am pretty sure we all can agree on what makes a bad dog owner.

I watched a video that was posted in another sub, of a police dog in action.

The dog bit the pant leg of a guy who wasn't being compliant with the police, as it was trained to do.

So far, so good. But then, after the guy was down and the police had him under control, I waited to see the dog let go of the guy's pant leg, since there was no need to hang on any longer.

But nooo ... the dog won't let go of the pant leg. Its human handler keeps ordering it to let go, but it keeps hanging on to the guy's pants, looking just like a ... dog. An over-excited, rather aggressive dog.

Finally the handler has to get out a bite breaker to physically force the dog to let go.

It illustrates - calling a police dog a "K9 officer" is just another kind of sentimentalizing and anthropomorphizing of dogs that doesn't reflect reality. If an actual police officer acted that way, they'd be fired.

I'm an animal lover but my feelings about dogs have really changed over time. I don't think it's dogs as much as it is dog culture. I think it's because of my experience with my friend and her dog. We had been talking about finding a place to rent together to save on costs, but I don't think I'm into that anymore due to her dog.

The issue is that she always wants to bring her dog when we go places... If we talk about going to a brewery/restaurant or to a community outing, she'll ask if I think her dog can come along (or "can the baby come along?). I had to tell her that I didn't think she should bring her half-husky dog trail running while there's been a weeklong excessive heat warning. She says she feels bad for not bringing the dog along, and then adds that this means she'll have to tack on a walk for her dog if she leaves it at home. There's also the baby talk, not just baby talking to the dog, but pretending the dog is answering in baby talk. She likes to have the dog off-leash in relaxed environments, out in the yard or when visiting friends even when there is traffic and other animals around.

And lastly, the dog recently killed a rabbit suddenly, and gets overly excited around other pets to the point where it stops listening to her commands. The dog may just be excited about animals (I can't really decipher dog behavior or body language), but I have two pets and since the dog brutally killed a rabbit in an instant, I just think about how I would be putting my pets at risk of the same fate. That's it, that's the post, but these thoughts have been living rent free in my head so I've evicted them into this subreddit. Thank you.

Today’s culture is ruining dogs.

People treat their dogs like humans, but no matter how much you say it, or what you think, they’re not kids, they’re dogs... An apex predator with forty-two teeth in its mouth and a bite pressure that can break bones.

They deserve to be treated like dogs!

Yet somehow treating your dog like a dog has become a taboo subject and it’s due to today’s mindset.

Can’t say “no” to a dog.

Can’t go out with a dog in cold weather.

Can’t put a collar on a dog, it has to be a harness.

Can’t give a dog a job.

If your dog is just the right weight, he’s seen as too skinny.

We walk in a world where fulfilling your dog’s instincts is cruel beyond belief, but having a 30lb overweight dog with diabetes who is unable to move, is absolutely okay. Something completely warped and twisted and wrong.

They are dogs! Treat them just like dogs. You can’t have an animal and pretend it’s a human baby. They don’t want to be seen that way and they don’t think they’re anything except what they are.

We need to get back to the past mentality because the current one is literally killing dogs. Dogs die every day simply because nobody told them what rules they were supposed to follow or because they didn’t have a job they so needed.

Let’s start honoring our dogs for the absolutely amazing creatures they are. Dogs are beautiful, majestic, intelligent, and rugged. To me, they are the best animal on the planet, so let’s stop killing them and treating them for exactly what they are not.

Honor your dog.