That is not a problem, no more than your spending money on dog food means you didn’t donate that money to a local food bank.
My hypothetical involves more burning-car-going-over-a-cliff, you-can-only-save-one scenarios.
I have heard the same thing the OP heard numerous times.
Animals are great because you can project so much onto them. They’re simple creatures who will always be there for you as long as you continue to feed them.
Real human relationships are complicated. People are weird, they’re needy, they have complicated demands. Not so with animals (generally).
I don’t agree with these people at all, but I can understand why they take that position. I love my cat and I think he’s fond of me, but if I left and somebody else fed him, he’d be purrfectly happy.
The evil guy with a black top hat & black cape has me tied to a tree at the cliff’s edge.
He is about to push my wife off the cliff just to mess with me & because he is just a meanie.
I am about to get loose but it is gonna be real close.
Lassie rushes in & attacks evil guy.
I get loose, wife is in a safe position.
I make a lunge towards Lassie & the bad guy going over the cliff.
I am weak now & can only catch one and hold them from falling.
So I grab …
I have not decided in advance about this particular scenario but I have for thousands of others.
I have decided in advance what I will probably do. I have never had time to make a real ethical decision to do or not do when I have already gone through the fan with all the nasty stuff & there is no time for thinking. I knew what I was going to do before I even got part way through.
IMO, if you make an unchangeable decision covering every possible situation, you & your passengers are gonna die sooner than later. I really need to think about some things, no matter how unlikely, in advance because when it counts, I have never had time to dither around about it.
It is difficult to practice saving people or animals that are about to go off a cliff but I could see what was going on for a bit before it got critical. That is when the decision is made.
It is possible to practice shooting my weapons, driving vehicles, etc., but even then, if I am zoned out, I will make a mess of things. Do not be zoned out. No, it is not a stressful way to live nor is it a negative way to live.
It is a way to live, for me at least.
I can see all kinds of possible things that could happen, we have one handicapped dawg & 8 cats. I might kill a few myself. A couple, the human would be in jeopardy if they were much of an asshat.
But that is just me.
If you are ever in my yard, might be good to remember this. he he he 
How is one scenario honestly better than the other? You’re choosing the dog over the human either way, ya know. It’s not as dramatic, and we tell ourselves it’s different because that lets us sleep at night, but when you get right down to the brass tacks, it’s the exact same thing. Except that when you feed a dog or cat instead of sending money to feed starving kids somewhere, you’re saving the critter while the person dies every single day for a decade. If anything, that’s exponentially worse than the one-time dramatic rescue.
Depends on which person and which critter.
No. It doesn’t.
I still think that just about everybody who claims that they love animals more than people to the point where they would save an animal’s life over a humans don’t actually mean that. For one thing, all of these “would you save the animal over the human?” hypotheticals are limited to “would you save a beloved pet instead of a shitty human?”
What about other hypothetical scenarios?
- save an acquaintance that you like versus saving your beloved dog
- save an unknown one-year-old baby versus your beloved dog
- save your beloved dog over a random, unknown person
- save somebody else’s cherished pet over a crappy person
- save a random, yippy-yappy, annoying dog over a horrible person
But the real test over whether you truly like animals more than people is if you turn it around and make it a choice or killing rather than saving. Let’s say you’re forced to shoot one or the other in the head, for example.
Also, we use animals in medical research all the time in order to save humans. I’ve been personally present when dogs were being used in cancer studies and have euthanized them after the study. In this case the choice is killing these dogs in order to one day save humans from cancer. There are plenty of people who believe that animals should never be used in research, but I don’t know too many who would say we should conduct medical research on humans in order to find better treatment for dogs with cancer.
Or how about in France, where they’ll take their dogs into restaurants, and not the Metro.
I’ve spent a lot of money on my dog’s vet bills. He’s uncoordinated and has managed to scratch his cornea twice. However if I chose to not spend that money on his vet bills it wouldn’t have gone to a persons medical bills, it would have stayed in my emergency fund.
This. Ex always knew that in the event of a house fire, I’d be grabbing the dogs. He was on his own.
I would never ever ever abandon my dog.
People don’t love other people “just cuz” either. Apart from the irrational love between parents and children, all relationships are based on reciprocation–and often in a material/tangible sense.
At least my cats don’t tell me they’ll love me till the end of time, but then text me the next day to break everything off…because the lady across the street has a more ample supply Meow Mix. People aren’t so honest about what their love is all about.
I can’t help but think of a line from Green Acres:
Oliver: “You treat that pig better than you treat your wife!”
Mr. Ziffel: “Have you looked at Doris lately?”
I love my dog a lot more than I like most people. I love the people in my life more, but I’d much rather be with the dog than most any person.
I have a friend who would, I think, sincerely espouse the view as bolded above – and re any non-human life-form, not just dogs. He is, admittedly, a bit odd; if we lived in the US, he’d be a PETA member for sure. I’m not certain whether – if this issue were to come to affect him directly and personally – he would actually put his money where his mouth was.
I’d grab Lassie.
It’s because dogs love you for who you are.
First of all the word sociopath gets thrown around so often on this board that it has lost all weight and meaning. It has become a generic insult of character rather than a medical term.
Anyway, it is all in the scenario.
Random Person, Random Dog: person saved
Random Person, Personal Dog: dog saved
Person I like, Random Dog: person saved
Person I like, Personal Dog: person saved
Person I dislike, Random Dog: dog saved
Person I dislike, Personal Dog: dog saved
If a random person is pitted against a random dog I will save the person. I can’t really express why, I guess I see more value.
If a random person is pitted against my dog I will save my dog(s). I love them dearly and they do have personality. It is like asking if I’d save my best friend or a stranger. Stranger loses. Not sorry. Also, as the dog’s owner I have a responsibility to keep him from harm and I will uphold that duty to the fullest extent I am able.
Person I like; simple enough - if I value you as a human being I will sacrifice the relatively short life of my pet for yours. NOT an easy decision, but I’d do it certainly.
Person I dislike; if I dislike you I think that you are contributing more harm than good in this world and are doing it with intent, not innocently. Therefore net benefit to the planet, plus a dog is saved…win win!
A grand grand majority of the people who do not understand this have either never owned a dog or never had a worthwhile connection with it.
This whole thing about cats? I dunno…I’m a dog guy.
What I find strange are the childfree folks who act like having a child is such a huge burden on their life, yet own a dog and end up probably spending as much money on it as they would a kid anyway. Spend hours and hours with their dog, talk about their dog at every opportunity, etc. Basically their dog is their ‘kid’ which they have the freedom to give away or replace when it dies of old age in 10-15 years. :dubious:
Don’t even get me started on cat people.
…Or despite who you are.
Your second paragraph would make more sense if you’d listed a beautiful woman. 
I’ve loved all my cats, and they’ve loved me to the extent they were capable of. Which isn’t much. I wouldn’t save any of them if it meant endangering the life of a person, unless that person were a serial killer or something. Even, oh, Nancy Grace would have to come first. But that’s for ethical reasons, not emotional ones. If I had to save Nancy Grace’s life and let one of the Mrs. Ws die, I’d be terribly broken up.
Not dogs, though. Except for the Annoying Yappy Dog I posted about here a few months back, there’s not a dog on the planet I’d pay more than 10 cents to keep from starving.
A common misconception.
We’ve had several dogs. Mrs. J. has handled the vast majority of regular feedings. The affection displayed toward us has not discriminated on the basis of who provides the food.
Dogs, by and large will show affection to anyone who raises them with a modicum of care and attention. The same, by and large goes for children toward parents who treat them decently.
As I’ve noted before in similar discussions, people who resent attention that others give to their animals seem to do so largely on the basis of jealousy (the evident feeling that if others weren’t devoted to their pets, they’d get more love).
Dumb. And sad.
There does seem to be a whiny tone to some of the posts in this thread.
Personally, I have never heard a person say they’d save their dog over a baby or that they love an animal more than they love any human. But I have heard people say they love animals in general more than they love people in general. And this doesn’t bother me in the least. Most people don’t love people in general. They may love their family, their SO, and their friends. But they don’t love everyone. I wouldn’t expect a stranger to care for me more than the furry animal who greets them everyday and lavishes them in kisses. If someone is upset because I care about my cat more than I care about them–a person I have never met before but who is already negatively judging me–then they’ve got some serious issues.
I’m not into bashing people over their head for their feelings. If someone has been abused by people their entire life, I don’t blame them for preferring companionship with an animal. Life is short–you gotta find happiness however you can find it. Yes, there are also people who prefer animals because they are not sociable, either due to mental illness or personality or character flaw. Big whoop. If an animal gets these people through the day, more power to them! There are worse ways to cope.
Animal-lovers need to be mindful that not everyone loves animals as much as they do. But the same advice goes for everyone with any special interest or passion.