So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[LizzieMaine]

I'd never think of myself as my cat's parent. I'm her housemate. And she'd never soil her paws by walking into a filthy bank.

Despite poop-scoop laws, dog turds are still very much a fact of life on the sidewalks here. I was standing in front of the theatre one night taking tickets, and this woman came down the street leading some kind of gigantic monstrous half-dog/half-horse hybrid thing, which she let take a voluminous crap right on the sidewalk where our patrons would have to step around it to get inside, and she looked right at me daring me to say something.

So I did.

 

[tonyb]

A friend who made his living as a gardener for a few decades repeatedly complained about the yuppies who resided in a luxury condo building whose grounds he maintained. He said he was tempted just to leave that dog poop right where those !#$%)@#& purebreds left it.

 

[tonyb]

I find that the vast majority of people who take their dogs with them refer to themselves as "pet parents." One of my husband's sisters-in-law actually takes her dog to get its nails manicured and painted with polish. Not only do she and the dog have some matching outfits, the dog has its own closet filled with dog clothes. I kid you not! She has also disowned both of her human daughters because they have decided to have their dad, her ex-husband, in their lives, so now she posts on Facebook that the dog is her daughter. The woman is a raving lunatic! Personally, as a real parent of a human being, it irks me when people treat their pets like people and call themselves "parents." Being the owner of a pet does not in anyway come close to being a real parent. For pity sake people - it's a dog, NOT a child! When I was a child animals lived outside with the exception of the gold fish and Chihuahua we had and when the dog died my mom swore we'd never have another dog living inside the house - and we didn't. And anyone, except a blind person, would have been deemed as crazy for taking their dogs everywhere with them. Honestly, I believe the world has now lost its collective mind.

The lovely missus and I have a cat and two dogs. We refer to the dogs as "the boys" and I tell them to "go bother Mom" when I've had my fill of their begging (which, truth be told, I trained them to do). FWIW, my mom and recently departed dad referred to their pets as "the kids" as well, and they have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so they certainly know the difference.

But no, the pets are NOT people. Judging from your description of her, your hubby's sister-in-law sounds like a pitiable person. Which is not to say she isn't also annoying and silly. But just imagine how miserable it must be to be the sort of person to forsake one's own children because they choose to maintain a relationship with their own father.

 

[Zombie_61]

On the other side of the coin. And I see this mostly at the grocery store parking lots. People who leave their dogs in the car where the average temperature is 100º in the summer.

I find that the vast majority of people who take their dogs with them refer to themselves as "pet parents." One of my husband's sisters-in-law actually takes her dog to get its nails manicured and painted with polish. Not only do she and the dog have some matching outfits, the dog has its own closet filled with dog clothes. I kid you not! She has also disowned both of her human daughters because they have decided to have their dad, her ex-husband, in their lives, so now she posts on Facebook that the dog is her daughter. The woman is a raving lunatic!...

I strongly believe people like this should be prosecuted within the full extent of the animal cruelty laws that exist.

...Personally, as a real parent of a human being, it irks me when people treat their pets like people and call themselves "parents." Being the owner of a pet does not in anyway come close to being a real parent. For pity sake people - it's a dog, NOT a child! When I was a child animals lived outside with the exception of the gold fish and Chihuahua we had and when the dog died my mom swore we'd never have another dog living inside the house - and we didn't. And anyone, except a blind person, would have been deemed as crazy for taking their dogs everywhere with them. Honestly, I believe the world has now lost its collective mind.

Pet owners are responsible for the care and well being of another living creature, and to a degree also responsible for educating/training them, so in that regard they (we) are very much like parents. Beyond that, however, I would agree with you.

Despite my wife's strong desire to have children, we never did. Physically/medically we are both capable of doing so, but for whatever reason it never happened. And as we're approaching our 34th anniversary, it doesn't look like it's going to. Over the years we've had several cats, and currently have a cat and a dog, all of whom we've jokingly referred to as "the kids", "son", "daughter", and so on, at various times, but we're not so far gone as to sincerely think they are the same as human children. But we take the responsibility for their care and well being very seriously and shower them with attention and affection, and as a result they've all lived well beyond the normal life expectancy for such animals.

That being said, at times I also grow weary of people who take their dogs with them everywhere they go. I think it's a given that a dog lying on the floor of a bank while it's owner conducts his/her business is preferable to a dog left to suffer in a hot car, but these mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers should have left their dog(s) at home if they had to run such errands.

 

[Stearmen]

While we are on the subject of pets, modern veterinarian medicine! They keep animals alive well past their time! When does it become selfish and cruel? Nobody wants to put down an animal, but think of their suffering. They never say a word, because they can't!

 

[Zombie_61]

While we are on the subject of pets, modern veterinarian medicine! They keep animals alive well past their time! When does it become selfish and cruel? Nobody wants to put down an animal, but think of their suffering. They never say a word, because they can't!

Don't get me started on this issue. As I posted above, my wife and I have had several pets during our years together, and the loss of every one of them caused us considerable emotional pain. But when it comes to making that difficult decision, we've always put our pets' needs ahead of our own. I absolutely agree that keeping a pet alive while it's suffering from whichever physical ailments it might be experiencing is indeed selfish and cruel.

 

[pawineguy]

Nope, never been to Paris. Not that Paris, anyway.

My first trip to Paris, we went to a very fine restaurant with another couple who just happened to be there at the same time as us. A very large dog sits under the table next to us with the couple he belongs to... fast forward two days and we are at a cafe in Versailles after touring the palace. Same dog comes loping into the cafe with his owners and sits a couple of tables away. We rarely ate a meal without a dog under a table within a 20 foot radius.

 

[sheeplady]

While we are on the subject of pets, modern veterinarian medicine! They keep animals alive well past their time! When does it become selfish and cruel? Nobody wants to put down an animal, but think of their suffering. They never say a word, because they can't!

In my experience, these people will argue against a reasonable vet who most of the time wants to do the compassionate thing. Euthanasia has been a blessing for several of our pets. Growing up on a farm (and having been with several human relatives when they passed) I can reassure you that it is one of the easiest ways to dIe from an observers' standpoint.

Only our elderly cat (18) who died of renal failure had a death as easy as euthanasia. He simply slipped away into a euphoria.

As bad as those that won't let go are those that euthanize for no reason. I had a boyfriend in college who's mother had his childhood dog put down because it went on the carpet.... twice. No exploration of medical issues or behavioral correction, just a death sentence. I've often thought about how I dodged a bullet that she's not my mother-in-law.

 

[Zombie_61]

...As bad as those that won't let go are those that euthanize for no reason. I had a boyfriend in college who's mother had his childhood dog put down because it went on the carpet.... twice. No exploration of medical issues or behavioral correction, just a death sentence. I've often thought about how I dodged a bullet that she's not my mother-in-law.

Anyone who does that should be euthanized as well.

 

[Edward]

What I'm tired of is the idea that dogs have to go everywhere all the time. Dogs in offices, dogs in banks, dogs in department stores, you can't turn around without somebody with a big dog on a leash or a little yappy dog in a tote bag. Sure, he's trained, sure, he doesn't bite, sure he won't jump on you and rip your throat out, but do you *really* have to have him standing in line with you at the DMV????

I like dogs just fine, but I don't get modern "dog culture" at all.

This is aline to me. Fortunatley. the UK doesn't have this. Dogs are allowed in some pubs, but for the most part, retail places don'tg let them in. I've only gone into a shop twice with a cat - both times, cat was in a carrier. Once when I took the girls home for the first time, stopping off to buy some bits in a pet shop, the other just last Friday, picking up some kitteh treats on the way home from the vet with a poorly Marlene. Cats, of course, are a rare thing indeed to be seen out in public with their humans. Dogs you do, but not in and out of shops the same. Living in London, I rarely see big dogs. Mostly in my part of town people live in flats and keep small, yappy-type dogs.

Part of it, I think, is the sad insistence by people who live in small city apartments that a dog bred for farm or other outdoor life will be "perfectly happy living in town". It's selfishness on the part of the person and it's cruel to the dog to force him to live in an unnatural environment. No border collie worth her salt ever had any interest in hanging around a bank.

I saw in the news a few months ago that the number of cats now far outstrip dogs as pets here in London, chiefly down to so many folks living in small flats that cats are much more pratical.

Friends from other lands took some time to adjust to the place dogs hold in modern American culture. Dogs in the house! Dogs on laps! Dogs licking faces!

There seems to be a thing with some doggy people.... I'm sure it happens with cats too, but in my experience it seems always to be dogs.... the dog becomes a baby substitute (maybe that's why; cats just aren't needy the way dogs can be, so if you want to feel 'needed', dog will be better....), and then everyone else is treated to the same kind of problem "parenting" as you see from folks who just can'tg comprehend that not eveyone adores / worships / remotely cares about their little angel, or wants to be around them and/or have them in their face. The most repulsive thing I've ever seen was the woman who had trained her dog to lick people's faces becuase she thought it cute, and then went around telling all and sundry that anyone who didn't appreciate this was obviously afraidc of dogs. Lunatic.

I'd never think of myself as my cat's parent. I'm her housemate. And she'd never soil her paws by walking into a filthy bank.

I flatter myself that I am in the role of the Big Cat, head of the bunch, but in reality I think mine view me with the same sort of patronising affection that a Victorian aristocrat might their servants.

 

[Edward]

Actually, another thing that can grate it when people (typically the type who neither have nor really understand the concept of pets) cannot comprehend that those of us who are childfree keep pets because we like them, not as some sort of warped substitute for human children.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The most insane thing I see regularly is people riding motorcycles with their dogs. Usually the dog is kept in a milk crate strapped to the rear of the bike, but yesterday I saw a full-leather-jacket burly bearded biker-type character going up the street with a weiner dog sitting in front of him, his paws propped up on the handlebars. Either way, if there's any kind of an accident, or even a sudden stop or a skid, the dog is doomed.

As far as pets-in-public are concerned in general, dogs seem to have reached the saturation point, and people are moving on to other creatures. I've seen a rabbit and a chicken being led on a leash in the middle of downtown this summer, and two different people with big snakes wrapped around their necks like scarves. One of the snakes was wearing a "Service Animal" vest.

 

[GHT]

I flatter myself that I am in the role of the Big Cat, head of the bunch, but in reality I think mine view me with the same sort of patronising affection that a Victorian aristocrat might their servants.

Dogs have owners. Cats have: "Staff."

 

[tonyb]

...

As bad as those that won't let go are those that euthanize for no reason. I had a boyfriend in college who's mother had his childhood dog put down because it went on the carpet.... twice. No exploration of medical issues or behavioral correction, just a death sentence. I've often thought about how I dodged a bullet that she's not my mother-in-law.

It's just plain unconscionable.

Our cat had to be box trained. Turned out that she had been adopted from the shelter before we got her, from the same shelter. The person who returned her did so because she peed on the rug. At least her life was spared.

Otis, my dog, wasn't exactly housebroken when we got him. But he learned. Sandifer, the lovely missus's mutt, took a bit of training, too. But we haven't had any problems along those lines in quite a spell.

People who can't accept that their pets are not pieces of furniture, to be changed out whenever something new catches one's eye or it gets in the way, got no business having pets at all.

 

[sheeplady]

I have to say, having had numerous pets before children and after children, you relationship with your pets does change. In some ways, our pets became less important- they do get less attention from us, but get smothered by our daughter to compensate. In many ways they became more important- when our daughter's cat got mildly sick I have never been so worried a pet would die in my life. I rushed her into the vet. And I don't have any special affinity for my daughter's cat; she's probably my least favorite of any cat I've owned; but my daughter loves her.

I read a really sad case of a dog that the owner had to rehome or put down because of biting. Rather than do the right thing and be there for their pet when it was put to sleep, they had a friend drive it out of state to pawn it off on a rescue. After the owner had tried calling the rescue and being told "we cant take a biter, we have too many non-biters we can't find homes for." The dog, scared and already having anxiety problems, bit two rescuers and then had to be put down in a strange place by atrangers, terrified. The rescuer put two and two together after it all happened and realized it was the same dog they had turned away. But now there's two people with bite wounds and a dog had a day of terror, just because their owner didn't have the guts to do the hard thing.

 

[p51]

I used to not be a dog person. I got bit by a dog that'd 'never bit anyone before' and the owner watched it happen from his porch and never even came over to do anything about it. There was a reaction to that, which involved bullets and the threat of using same on the owner.
I didn't like dogs very much for that reason, until we got our first wiener dog. Now I really like most dogs, other than really big ones. It takes a good pooch to turn you around. We spoil him rotten because he's 13 and we know we don't have too many more years with him. But we would never take him to the mall or a bank!

As bad as those that won't let go are those that euthanize for no reason. I had a boyfriend in college who's mother had his childhood dog put down because it went on the carpet.... twice. No exploration of medical issues or behavioral correction, just a death sentence. I've often thought about how I dodged a bullet that she's not my mother-in-law.

My wife's family is like that. First sign of any medical problems with a pet? Put 'em down. :eeek: I made it really clear to my wife that we're not putting our dachshund down until it's really time. She's abided by that, hopefully because she feels she should (and not just that she has reason to fear my reaction if she goes the same route as her parents and older sister, who put down a cute little Chihuahua just because she kept getting infections).

 

[Zombie_61]

...I flatter myself that I am in the role of the Big Cat, head of the bunch...

Actually, you're not wrong. According to the "experts" cats and dogs don't make a distinction between species--to them you're just a bigger cat or dog. And although cats aren't pack animals like dogs (generally speaking), once you assert your place as the dominant "cat" they will assume the more subservient role. Of course, with some cats the degree of subservience is barely noticeable, but when push comes to shove even the most stubborn cats will usually yield to their owner's dominance.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I showed that to my cat and she clawed my leg and showed me her backside. I think that means she says "HAH!"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Actually, you're not wrong. According to the "experts" cats and dogs don't make a distinction between species--to them you're just a bigger cat or dog. And although cats aren't pack animals like dogs (generally speaking), once you assert your place as the dominant "cat" they will assume the more subservient role. Of course, with some cats the degree of subservience is barely noticeable, but when push comes to shove even the most stubborn cats will usually yield to their owner's dominance.

 

[sheeplady]

I used to not be a dog person. I got bit by a dog that'd 'never bit anyone before' and the owner watched it happen from his porch and never even came over to do anything about it. There was a reaction to that, which involved bullets and the threat of using same on the owner.
I didn't like dogs very much for that reason, until we got our first wiener dog. Now I really like most dogs, other than really big ones. It takes a good pooch to turn you around. We spoil him rotten because he's 13 and we know we don't have too many more years with him. But we would never take him to the mall or a bank!
My wife's family is like that. First sign of any medical problems with a pet? Put 'em down. :eeek: I made it really clear to my wife that we're not putting our dachshund down until it's really time. She's abided by that, hopefully because she feels she should (and not just that she has reason to fear my reaction if she goes the same route as her parents and older sister, who put down a cute little Chihuahua just because she kept getting infections).

Knowing that this many people walk the earth who have this "put em down" attitude makes me very thankful I have a health proxy.

But seriously, having worked extensively with older adults and other professionals who do as well, I've noticed that most people don't understand what palliative care is and isn't. Given the fact there are so many people who apparently can't figure we out when pet euthanasia is a good idea (either being the "let them linger" or "put em down" types) no wonder we have huge misunderstandings about end of life care. It's kind of a no brainer that if you euthanize for peeing on the carpet or refuse euthanasia when your pet is in agony and terminal that you might not be the best informed about end of life care...