Friday, February 08, 2019

Generalized and Specific Lies Kill Dogs



We call them "Man's Best Friend," but if any other friend pissed and crapped in the house, yelled loudly early in the morning, stole our food, humped our leg, ate poop, and then tried to kiss us, we would brick them in the head in short order.

Of course, it's worse than that.

Not only are a lot of people very unhappy with their dogs, but a lot of dogs are unhappy with their people.

Every year, millions of dogs are acquired by folks who say they "love" them, but these same people turn around four, six, or nine months later and then abandon them.

These abandonments are not an accident -- they are the product of a generalized lie and a specific lie.

The generalized lie is that everyone (and certainly every family) needs a dog. Not true. The harsh truth is that in this jam-packed world, increasing numbers of people do not have the yard, schedule, time, finances, or temperament to live well with a dog.

The specific lie is that all breeds are the same. This is the lie that flows like water off of the lips of the Pit Bull community which chants "deed not breed" as if indoctrinated into a cult. The simple truth is that why NO dog is the right choice for a lot of people, a Pit Bull is the wrong choice for MOST people. It is not an accident or random chance that half of all the dogs abandoned to their death in this country are Pit Bulls. To put a number on it, that's nearly one million Pit Bulls a year; over 40 million pounds of dead dogs tossed into landfills and incinerators every year.

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Nor does everyone need a baby :-)
And babies have several disadvantages (you covered some of these in a recent post) ...infancy is much longer, temperament cannot be (somewhat) predicted by breed, diapers and expensive toys are required, and it's damn hard to rehome them if they don't work out.