# It's a fucking dog. Get over it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860 "2004-08-08T05:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![absoul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@absoul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/absoul)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/41 "2004-08-08T12:45:34Z")
> [@Turkey Curse](#): > > Pretty soon, we’re going to be hearing about people travelling in herds to some remote city to marry their pets. See if that doesn’t rate an amendment. I’m betting he works for Fox News. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/42 "2004-08-08T12:50:52Z")
Well, I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be a parody of the “They’re aliens. Get over it.” thread. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/43 "2004-08-08T12:53:55Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > So what you’re saying is that being horrified by the torture of a sentient being is stupid, because that sentient being isn’t human. I don’t think you and I are sharing the same definition of ‘sentient,’ because I wouldn’t consider a cat or dog, even a very good one, to be sentient. I do, however, agree that there’s a level of horror in a person senselessly torturing a creature that is both entirely innocent and essentially helpless that most people respond to very strongly. That doesn’t mean they think they’re people. It means they’re horrified that someone could torture something like a puppy, that is unable to protect itself or even understand what’s happening to it. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/44 "2004-08-08T12:56:34Z")
And who the fuck are you, telling people how they can or can’t feel about things? You can start a pit thread :rolleyes: but it sure won’t change the way I feel about **anything.** Accept that some people can have different feelings than you, and move the fuck on. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/45 "2004-08-08T13:10:36Z")
**Airman** , yeh, the animal rights fanatics are generally hopeless nutjobs. They make it harder for animal protection folks – the kind that shelter strays, seek legislation for humane treatment of lab animals, and so forth. **AvhHines** : Bingo! ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/46 "2004-08-08T13:18:21Z")
If we’re going to get all literal minded about this, **Turkey Curse** , I’ll point out that your dog is not relying on your to take care of it. He could take much better care of himself on his own. What you’re providing him with is your affection and companionship, not food. Let him go, and he’ll get plenty of food without your help. You’re actually prohibiting him from leading the life he would lead without you. As for people who send a $50 check when an animal gets tortured, I’m sure they figure there are plenty of other people out there to send checks when a kid gets tortured. And there are. These kids who tried to drown and then barbecued the puppy to death were doing it for fun. A couple of 11-year olds kidnapped, tortured, and beat to death a 2-year old boy a few years back. There was plenty of outrage about it. Perhaps someone will do a study about which case caused more upset. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/47 "2004-08-08T14:30:39Z")
Turkey Curse, one thing you have to remember is that since pets require constant care and attention, it’s easy to think of them as child like. They _could_ survive without you, but they wind up dirty and skinny and likely live a much harder, shorter life. Being child like we feel naturally protective of them, more protective than we would feel for an adult human. On top of it, since they’re not intelligent, we realize that there is the potential for them to just be scared and confused when they’re being mistreated. Dogs have been bred and trained to be friendly towards people, and there is something VERY ugly about using that innocence to hurt and kill them. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/48 "2004-08-08T14:33:30Z")
originally posted by P\_T\_: > [@](#): > > There aren’t very many people apart from my family that I would go into a burning building for, I’d much rather save the dog. Dogs love you unconditionally, people will most often shit on you first chance it does something for them. Does anyone else think this is an extremely fucked up statement? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/49 "2004-08-08T14:55:00Z")
I have no problems with people becoming attached to their pets. **Turkey Curse** doesn’t have the ‘animal gene’. Big shrug and a ‘so fucking what’. I don’t think babies are cute, and I generally detest small children. Does that make me a monster? To address his question: People are more upset by dog and cat torture because those are by far the majority of domesticated pets. They’re warm-blooded, familiar to us, and a part of many households. We relate to them on a more personal level than to, say, an iguana. It’s just an emotional response. I most strongly disagree with **P\_T\_**. Dogs do NOT ‘love’ you. The tendency for people to anthropomorphize other animals is disturbing. Dogs have a healthy respect and fear of the alpha animal in the pack and will defer in nearly all cases to that alpha animal. That’s generally the human who owns it. However, as nearly any pet owner will attest, there can be times when your dog will snap at you or challenge you, or your cat will hiss at you. They are almost immediately contrite about it, and will show typical omega animal behavior. Dogs are loyal in the sense that they are loyal to the pack and will defend it against interlopers. Put a starving dog in a room with a recently deceased owner and see how far the “love” goes. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/50 "2004-08-08T15:06:49Z")
> [@Turkey Curse](#): > > Would anybody have given a FUCK if it weren’t a puppy? What if they had grabbed a fish out of the river and thrown it on a grill alive? Or a possum or something like that? I’m sick of the majority of people only giving a shit about “cute” animals. Fuck you guys. It’s a dog. Why does anybody give a shit about a dog? I’ve give a fuck no matter what kind of animal it was. Bird, cat, possum, three-toed sloth-the point is that the two little bastards roasted a living, sentient creature alive just for kicks. Even the live fish thrown on the grill would bother me, even though I know how lobsters are cooked. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/51 "2004-08-08T15:30:02Z")
I just want to come on board and say “everything **Chefguy** said above” and add my 2c about the burning building issue. I don’t think my dogs love me but I feel something akin to love for them. Running into a burning building to save a life is an extremely heroic act, one that I submit can be demanded of no one. If I choose to do so for a human it is for my own reasons. There are plenty of people in this world who in my opinion are worth the effort, as well as plenty who are not. My dogs fall somewhere in the middle; behind some humans but definitely ahead of others. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/52 "2004-08-08T15:34:22Z")
> [@](#): > > **Lobsang** said: > Animal rights protestors, the good kind, protest against things such as scientific testing on animals, and some of the images I’ve seen of test subjects make me say I have all the time in the world for ARPs. Because the world would be a better place indeed without heart transplants and cancer battling drugs. Why does it seem that a lot of ‘animal rights’ types will protest the hell out of some issue involving cute animals, but if it’s an ugly animal like a worm or a catfish, they don’t really care? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/53 "2004-08-08T17:28:18Z")
I once heard the difference between “cute” and “ugly” animals(especially when speaking of them as food) explained this way: “The difference between a kitten and a lobster is that the lobster doesn’t get it’s claws tangled in your ball of yarn.” In other words, the animals we are close to, and live with, like cats, dogs, horses, and so on, are more often seen as improper to eat. The others? We don’t know them personally, it doesn’t seem to matter as much. ---
**Author:** ![Fiona\_Orange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@Fiona\_Orange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiona_Orange)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/54 "2004-08-08T18:12:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Tell you what, we’ll make that eleven words. :smack: Actually, it was 13. You had two contractions 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/55 "2004-08-08T21:18:07Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I most strongly disagree with **P\_T\_**. Dogs do NOT ‘love’ you. The tendency for people to anthropomorphize other animals is disturbing. Dogs have a healthy respect and fear of the alpha animal in the pack and will defer in nearly all cases to that alpha animal. That’s generally the human who owns it. However, as nearly any pet owner will attest, there can be times when your dog will snap at you or challenge you, or your cat will hiss at you. They are almost immediately contrite about it, and will show typical omega animal behavior. Dogs are loyal in the sense that they are loyal to the pack and will defend it against interlopers. > > Put a starving dog in a room with a recently deceased owner and see how far the “love” goes. Taking this at face and not “whoosh” value: **Chefguy** has given us some novel and revolutionary constructs to consider. Ever really pissed off your spouse or significant other and had them yell or throw things at you? Obviously, this means they cannot love you, and even if they show affection afterwards they’re deferring to your alpha role in the relationship and/or trying to scam a meal or gifts out of you. Put starving humans in the room with a recently dead human and you’ve got…the Donner Party!!! No love lost there. I’ll say this for the Donner survivors, though. No one ever excused them of rolling in the corpses of their compatriots. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/56 "2004-08-08T22:20:18Z")
I love my cats not because they love me but because _I just do_. I don’t care if they rub against my leg to spread pheremones, not show affection. I don’t care if they lick my face in the morning not to say “hello” but so that I’ll get up and feed them. I don’t care if they’d eat my body if I died. I don’t care if they’d bite my fingers as I hung off of a cliff. I don’t care that they aren’t “smart” and not human. I love them. It’s because of my love for them that I understand how parents can love their bad, ugly kids and how God could love the bad, ugly things called humans. Do I roll my eyes at people who spoil their pets? Yes. But I also roll my eyes at people who are equally ridiculous with their children or boy/girlfriends. ---
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/57 "2004-08-09T00:05:03Z")
> [@pool](#): > > originally posted by P\_T\_: > > Does anyone else think this is an extremely fucked up statement? NO. My childhood cat was my best and often my only friend until I went to college. Humans are way overrated. 95% of pets have better empathy, tact, intelligence, common sense, and of course loyalty than 95% of humans. Maybe some of us came to love animals more because our own life experience tells us that there’s nothing that great about human relationships. ---
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/58 "2004-08-09T00:14:49Z")
**Monstro** , I agree with your post completely. I’d also like to point out that much of what feeds our human relationships are based on the physical sensations–euphoria from outings, pleasure from intercourse, and so on. Not many people would stay in a sexless marriage, but would you dare say that just because your husband wouldn’t be happy staying with you if you didn’t have sex with him, he doesn’t really love you? Likewise, what’s to say that cats cannot experience love just because their actions are often tied to selfish, physical causes? And, what about babies and children–do they really experience love or are they just after the great Milk Factory & Diaper Changer & Person-Who-Plays-With-You-When-You’re-Bored? I don’t think I truly loved my parents as humans until well after I left home. Of course that does not invalidate your point that it doesn’t matter if they “love” you or not, just throwing out another perspective here. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/59 "2004-08-09T00:27:35Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Taking this at face and not “whoosh” value: > > **Chefguy** has given us some novel and revolutionary constructs to consider. Ever really pissed off your spouse or significant other and had them yell or throw things at you? Obviously, this means they cannot love you, and even if they show affection afterwards they’re deferring to your alpha role in the relationship and/or trying to scam a meal or gifts out of you. > > Put starving humans in the room with a recently dead human and you’ve got…the Donner Party!!! No love lost there. > > I’ll say this for the Donner survivors, though. No one ever excused them of rolling in the corpses of their compatriots. Whoosh, my ass. Animal behavior is well-documented; my comments are neither novel nor revolutionary, but rather based on established science. You’re comparing human behavior to other species. Try reading something besides the comic pages. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860/60 "2004-08-09T00:52:45Z")
Reflecting on numerous cats, several parrots, and some dogs that have been in my home over the years: never did any of them tell me a lie, borrow money and not repay it, drink up my booze and barf on the floor, try to steal my girlfriend, or borrow my car and bend it. Bipeds have done all of the above. I’m not a PETA type-I’ll go on record as being wholly against those nutbags. They and ELF are typical of those who take a decent concept but go way too far with it. I like lots of different critters-some to have as a pet, and others to have as an entree. This wasn’t a case of hunting for meat to feed oneself or family, or trapping for furs. It was an act of cruelty by some sociopathic kids. By the way- did I miss the announcement? Based on the OP and some comments made in other threads, this appears to be “Act Like a Hateful Asshole Towards Animals” month. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-fucking-dog-get-over-it/258860.md?page=4)