# Will the Dogs Accompany Us, On Interstellar Voyages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 16, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639 "2009-08-16T17:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/1 "2009-08-16T17:43:00Z")
I cannot imagine life without dogs-they are such wonderful companions for human. So, is it likely tht they will go with us to the stars? ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/2 "2009-08-16T18:03:17Z")
Well, dogs got to space before humans did, technically. If we ever get to the point where we can travel between _stars_ then I don’t see any reason why any animal couldn’t accompany us. Cats would do better in smaller vessels though, since a dog needs space to exercise. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/3 "2009-08-16T18:08:02Z")
For the time being, going into space is terribly expensive in part because our bodies developed to survive on earth conditions. Many many dollars are spent on technologies and devices to adapt ourselves to a spacey environment. If someone wanted to spend even more money on developing doggy technologies, I might have a problem with that. If we’re talking about far into the future when we (theoretically) can hop into a space van and start colonizing other planets, it seems likely we’d bring a pooch or two, so long as it were safe for us & them to do so. Space travel is not a situation where you’d want an animal that will often decide to start idly chewing on anything it can fit its teeth around. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/4 "2009-08-16T18:53:50Z")
Perhaps the op is considering long term or even inter generational travel? The question then becomes what do we bring solely because we _need_ it, and what because it benefits us in some psychological or spiritual manner, even if it is at some significant other cost? It reminds me of a segment I saw when one of my kids was playing _Oregon Trail_. A member of the caravan died. Burying him would use up valuable time and resources but having the service was still needed for the well being of the group. Pets are like that. We [benefit](http://www.holisticonline.com/Pets/pets_pet-therapy-health-benefits.htm) from having pets and taking care of a pet seems to be a uniquely human activity, but we do not _need_ them. If history is a guide we would take pets along. Even at some cost. I vote for [sugar gliders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Glider) though (as much as I love my dogs - two greyhounds and a whippet) - small, affectionate, and I think they’d be really something to see gliding around in a low g environment! ---
**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 16, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/5 "2009-08-16T19:05:16Z")
Cats would be useful for pest control. They also adapt better to confinement, and litterbox-train themselves. If future space voyagers were en route to colonize new planets, then they’d need to take along livestock – in suspended animation or embryo form, I suspect, given the space and feed requirements of on-the-hoof breeding stock. Horses would be an obvious first choice: self-replicating transportation and hauling power. I’d be inclined to think that goats and sheep would be preferable to cattle, since they can supply milk, meat, and leather plus wool, at less cost to produce. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/6 "2009-08-16T19:59:32Z")
I’d pay quite a lot to see my cats learning to survive in zero gravity. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/7 "2009-08-16T20:43:58Z")
If the cats are going into space, I’d rather stay here. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/8 "2009-08-16T20:50:49Z")
For interstellar travel, I’d expect anything brought along to be reduced to as low mass a form as possible. We’d probably bring along a whole zoo; as many different creatures as we can but it would be in the form of embryos, cell samples or even digitized genomes. Probably the “humans” as well would be uploaded as brain pattern recordings, or would have never been flesh and blood humans at all. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/9 "2009-08-16T21:18:56Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’d pay quite a lot to see my cats learning to survive in zero gravity. The unfortunate first feline astronaut encounter with zero gravity on the vomit comet: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MvU9GZjBTzs/hqdefault.jpg "NASA's zero-gravity cat astronaut") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvU9GZjBTzs) ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/10 "2009-08-17T06:30:43Z")
If and when inter-stellar travel becomes feasible I would imagine the technology to create artificial pets either through robotics or genetic engineering would also be feasible. These pets would be designed to be even more appealing to humans than current pets and would be easier to look after. I expect that is what humans will take on their inter-stellar journeys. ---
**Author:** ![Baboonanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Baboonanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baboonanza)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/11 "2009-08-17T09:30:46Z")
What, so that their imbecilic owners can let them crap all over our shiny metal floors? Not on MY spaceship pal! ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/12 "2009-08-17T09:51:08Z")
**ralph** , I have to know: How _old_ are you? You were regularly posting Mundane, Pointless Debates I Won’t Even Contribute To Any Further several _years_ ago and don’t seem to have progressed significantly at all. This thread is so inane I wondered whether you are actually incredibly intelligent and merely fucking with us. I cannot help but have a strong suspicion that your surname is Wiggum. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/13 "2009-08-18T19:06:30Z")
I don’t recall **Ralph’s** age, if I ever knew it. But his name comes from a character in a book that was written back in the 1930’s or early 1940’s. His last name is 41+! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/14 "2009-08-18T19:36:41Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > **ralph** , I have to know: How _old_ are you? > > You were regularly posting Mundane, Pointless Debates I Won’t Even Contribute To Any Further several _years_ ago and don’t seem to have progressed significantly at all. This thread is so inane I wondered whether you are actually incredibly intelligent and merely fucking with us. > > I cannot help but have a strong suspicion that your surname is Wiggum. Wow, what a total jerk you are. It might be in the wrong forum but it’s an interesting thought. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/15 "2009-08-18T20:33:03Z")
On first thought, taking our dogs into space seems like a waste. On second thought, when we run into Aliens for the first time, I would be very comforted to have my big-ass sniffing, crushing and rending machine at my side. He will be able to tell they are in the room with us even if that stupid motion tracker device can’t seem to get it right. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/16 "2009-08-18T20:55:15Z")
I can imagine life without dogs. And most dogs I’ve encountered would be quite unsuited to life on a spaceship - too little space, too little likelihood that the non-crew humans will be awake, too likely to push or bump or chew on the wrong thing and evacuate all the air. On planetary colonies with lots more space and lots fewer ways to accidenatlly kill everyone on board, I’m sure somebody’ll bring mutts along, to make messes everywhere and destroy the local ecology. More’s the pity. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/17 "2009-08-18T20:59:29Z")
You do know that dogs have been breeding us for millenia so we can get to the point that we can build ships to return them to Sirius? The opposable thumbs of the plains apes were a pretty good compromise after ths dog’s robots failed in the early years of colonization. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/18 "2009-08-19T01:51:21Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > This thread is so inane I wondered whether you are actually incredibly intelligent and merely fucking with us. Chill out, it’s a valid question. Will humans on an interstellar colony mission take _any_ animals with them? Frankly, I can imagine bringing along some kind of artificial womb and the frozen embryos of hundreds of species, including dogs. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/19 "2009-08-19T02:16:51Z")
Why do we humans have this desire to keep pets anyway? Some people who can scarcely afford to feed themselves, even maybe homeless, will stay true to a pet and expend valuable resources on it. They meet some human need in a way that little else does. Even if I cannot quite articulate what that need is. Frozen embryos won’t do that. I somewhat doubt an i-Dog will either. Flesh blood warm and crapping. Needing us for real. Fooling us into thinking that they love us unconditionally. Yeah, pets will be along on a long interstellar journey. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639/20 "2009-08-19T02:53:53Z")
Doc, we evolved with dogs for tens of thousands of years. It’s in the nature of humans to want to be around dogs, just as it’s in the nature of dogs to be around us, and, just like any dog that dislikes humans should be put down, the same can be said of humans that dislike dogs. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-dogs-accompany-us-on-interstellar-voyages/506639.md?page=2)