A dog is not a person

ORIGINAL: jartzh
BTW, I am just kidding about becoming a vet.

I was going to say, because yeah, you would have to do more than watch "Old Yeller" and some episodes of "Dog Whisperer" to become a vet...

Well, I suspected as much...and a look at the calender confirmed it....THERE'S A FULL MOON!

Next year I will finish up at A&M and get my Vet license to make money off your lovies.
Haven't had the compassion class yet.

 
I'm pretty sure that is fiction, and if it's  not you will not do well, before your colleagues and patients catch on and then you will be stuck with student loans and office bills, while we lovies go to a real vet.
You are probably very young and think this is a very cool statement just shows me that mom and dad didn't teach you the empathy thing. You will learn, life has a way of doing that.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jartzh
BTW, I am just kidding about becoming a vet.

 
I was too aggravated to finish reading the rest of posts.

ORIGINAL: jartzh

I have a dog, rabbits, & parrot. The rabbits run in the backyard with the dog.  I like them but dont love them.  I like my classic car but I dont love it.  If my car dies I will shoot it and buy me another possession.  Same thing with my pets.

 
Lucky animals. [&o] Dogs are not possessions, they're living, breathing, feeling creatures.
 
It really seems like jartzh is a troll just trying to stir things up. What other reason is there to post things like that on an obviously dog LOVING forum?

ORIGINAL: jartzh

I wanted a site where I could get a rational answer to a real physical problem and I dont think thats possible from a person fretting over Fifi not liking the color of the new throw on my bed.

 
First of all, no one here even talks about things as stupid as "Fifi not liking the color of the new throw". Can you show me even one example of an instance like that on this board?
 
Secondly, what's your problem/question? Most people here have a wealth of knowledge that they're more than willing to share....

ORIGINAL: glenmar

Um guys?  Why are we still feeding the troll?

 
I am doing it because I enjoy making people look stupid.  Sometimes though, that isn't much of a challenge.  []
 
But you are right.  Time to move on.

It really seems like jartzh is a troll just trying to stir things up. What other reason is there to post things like that on an obviously dog LOVING forum?

 
There are people who get paid to stir up debates on internet forums.  Trolls are not always starting arguments for the hell of it - for some it is actually profitable.
 
Kate

ORIGINAL: Benedict

It really seems like jartzh is a troll just trying to stir things up. What other reason is there to post things like that on an obviously dog LOVING forum?

There are people who get paid to stir up debates on internet forums.  Trolls are not always starting arguments for the hell of it - for some it is actually profitable.

Kate

 
Really? I've never heard of this. Why would you pay someone to do this? I'm asking seriously, not trying to be sarcastic at all.

There are people who get paid to stir up debates on internet forums.  Trolls are not always starting arguments for the hell of it - for some it is actually profitable.

 
No way, are you serious?

I have heard about that also, I guess it's for marketing and stuff like that.  Basicaly to get an idea of how people react to certain thing.  I really don't know the other reasons for it but I hear it's quite common.
 
The OP does bring up a good point that many of us don't see.  This is how otheers who do not feel the same why about dogs as we do think.  I think it's really good we understand they way they think so we can understand ourselves better.

It's a form of research.  A company/publication/individual wants information or opinions on a certain subject, be it the price of gas or treatment of animals.  Sure, you can research facts, but researching opinions is time-consuming and expensive to do face-to-face.  So, they hire someone to bombard message boards relating to the subject in question (usually spread out over more than one forum, but not always) and from the responses can "gauge the lay of the land" as it were. osts are usually worded specifically to start a debate because those are pretty much guaranteed to get the most responses.   They report back to whoever hired them, and the dog food company (or whoever/whatever hired them) puts out their next information leaflet which states something like "In fact, many dog owners believe .................(fill in blank with whatever opinions support the argument the company is trying to put forth.)  The forum members who post have inadvertently become "many dog owners" who are now an unattributable, anonymous source who can't be traced, therefore enabling the company to skew opinions in their favour.
 
It's a dirty trick, but it happens. 
 
Kate
 
 

Wow . . .

Well - of course they are not a person ! [&:]
 
But then again, I do consider them like my little children.
Except I will not have to buy them new school clothes,
pay for them to go to college, buy them expensive books, etc.
 
They will never be able to feed themselves as they grow older like a
human child would, So therefore they are more dependent and
should be treated as such. []
 

Of course a dog is not a person.  In fact it can be detrimental to training and understanding animals to humanize them too much, because you tend to misunderstand what the dog is doing and why since you attribute human thoughts and feelings to the animal that he just doesn't have and can't live up to.  Jean Donaldson talks about this in the early chapters of The Culture Clash. 
 
None of that has anything to do with how much you love your dog, how much you integrate him into the family, how much attention and money you pay to his medical care, etc.  I have the capacity to love and care for a dog even though he's not a person.  Just like I have the capacity to love a man, despite the fact that he's different than me because I'm a woman.  My capacity to love doesn't make me less rational, or less reasonable.  It just makes me a real human person with the normal range of emotions. 
 
In fact I think a lot of owners (me included) feel a *heightened* sense of responsibility for our dogs precisely becuase they are not human.  My dog can't express himself to the world in a way that most people understand, and he can't make his own decisions about his lifestyle or health.  I have to make all those decisions for him.  That's a big responsibility!  It would be a lot easier if he were a little furry human and I could just ask him!