# You & your pet are stranded far from home. Do you abandon the pet if it means you get to go back? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480 "2010-07-21T16:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/101 "2010-07-23T19:42:03Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I really was trying to phrase things so that the hypothetical person _thought_ she or he was probably doomed, but could possibly have been wrong. I’d have gone with something like “you will \*probably \*be mad or dead” or “_most likely_.” > [@](#): > > In penance I will watch a hip-hop video of your choosing on YouTube. No Marshal Mathers, though. You think I listen to \*Eminem?! \*What the hell do you \*take \*me for, man? I can’t get to any streaming media while I’m at work, but I’ll endeavor to remember to post something when I get home (assuming my internet’s back up after last night’s power outage). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/102 "2010-07-23T19:45:24Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I’d have gone with something like “you will \*probably \*be mad or dead” or “_most likely_.” > > You think I listen to \*Eminem?! \*What the hell do you \*take \*me for, man? I don’t actually know anything about Eminem. He’s the only rapper whose real name I know. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/103 "2010-07-23T23:06:53Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > BTW, aren’t options 2 and 3 the same? That’s what I was thinking, because the one he meant to include but didn’t is probably the one I would vote for. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/104 "2010-07-24T00:36:26Z")
Abandon all hope for humanity, ye who enters the thought of abandonment. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/105 "2010-07-24T02:25:35Z")
Seems like we could have shortened the OP and poll to “Do you have any human children, yes or no?” I doubt anyone with kids would choose to stay with the pet instead of go back to the kid. But there are some strange folks here, so maybe I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/106 "2010-07-24T02:35:58Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Seems like we could have shortened the OP and poll to “Do you have any human children, yes or no?” I doubt anyone with kids would choose to stay with the pet instead of go back to the kid. But there are some strange folks here, so maybe I’m wrong. Yeah. If I had kids, it would be heartwrenching to leave my dog but I would. I’m married and my answer kinda vascillates, depending. But if I was single, I’d stay with my dog. So basically, it’d depend on human relationship factors. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/107 "2010-07-24T14:14:45Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Seems like we could have shortened the OP and poll to “Do you have any human children, yes or no?” I doubt anyone with kids would choose to stay with the pet instead of go back to the kid. But there are some strange folks here, so maybe I’m wrong. I know at least one woman with children who considered her pet dog her child as well, and can think of at least one reckless thing she did to protect it. It wouldn’t surprise me if she did more than one reckless thing for the dog’s sake, because I reacted badly when she risked her safety and she might well have decided not to tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/108 "2010-07-25T14:47:41Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > In penance I will watch a hip-hop video of your choosing on YouTube. Sir! I present you with… [“All Caps” by Madvillain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY) (a collaboration between MF DOOM and Madlib.) Sorry for the delay–my network card was on the fritz. Side note: Hey! It looks like they enabled that nesting-quotes hack someone posted in ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/109 "2010-07-28T14:18:52Z")
My god… I _killed the thread with awesome._ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480/110 "2010-07-28T15:34:17Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > > > Seems like we could have shortened the OP and poll to “Do you have any human children, yes or no?” I doubt anyone with kids would choose to stay with the pet instead of go back to the kid. But there are some strange folks here, so maybe I’m wrong. > > I know at least one woman with children who considered her pet dog her child as well, and can think of at least one reckless thing she did to protect it. It wouldn’t surprise me if she did more than one reckless thing for the dog’s sake, because I reacted badly when she risked her safety and she might well have decided not to tell me. Wow. What kind of stuff did she do? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-your-pet-are-stranded-far-from-home-do-you-abandon-the-pet-if-it-means-you-get-to-go-back/547480.md?page=5)