Do you think people treat their pets (especially dogs) about the same way they treat their children?

I don’t have children, but I like my dog more and treat her better than I treat other people’s kids. She lives inside and sleeps in our bed. She’s cute, she sleeps a lot, she’s affectionate, and she doesn’t puke/piss/shit on me. Like a kid, but better.

Definitely ,dogs and cats,our cat is treated just like a kid,some of our friends complain that our cat has more toys than they did when they were kids.

Sometimes the pet is better taken care of than the child.

@tinyfaery People will have kids without thinking about it, even though they know they can’t handle being responsible for a dog.

Yep.

Yes, I think I relate to Frodo almost exactly the same way I related to my kids.

Well..as much as I love my pets, I never kept my daughter in the barn. lol
I suppose I could have built her a hutch, or a stall or a coop. I certainly would have provided fresh bedding, big tubs of fresh water and a fly mask for those hot summer days.

So do you think that people who have dogs who have no manners also have children who have no manners? (I would have kept my kid in the barn on a rainy day @Coloma! Barns are cool! But, yeah. Of course. You’d never leave your five year old alone, locked in the back yard with a dog house for shelter while you went on a trip for a few days. There are some things that can’t be compared.)

“You’d never leave your five year old alone, locked in the back yard with a dog house for shelter while you went on a trip for a few days.”

I wouldn’t do that to my dog either. That’s what dog kennels/hotels are for. They’re cheap, too.

In terms of “training”, absolutely!

Down! Sit! Stay! Roll over (so I can put this diaper on you!)

Many of the general rules are the same. Encourage positive behaviour with incentives, blah blah.

When they’re older and can appreciate language better, then you can start in on logical discourse. But the training sticks.

To a degree, they have their own bedroom, toys, beg for ‘treats’, need walked, etc…. I don’t have children, but from all my experience with other people’s, including family, I’d say children require a little more thought and attentiveness. :)

PS My dogs never want to stay outside for more than five minutes, so I make them and they enjoy it after a few minutes like yours. But you know, a warm fuzzy bed, petting and treats is probably hard to turn away from.

^ I love a warm, fuzzy bed, treats, and petting.

I treat my cat better then other people’s children. But I spoil her too she doesnt have responsibility nor will she. And she won’t grow up to become a monster. So why not.

On the other hand she is a fantastic bed warmer and companion.

@livelaughlove21 Why would locking them up in a small kennel with a bunch of other dogs in other cages, many of who might be barking and crying out of fear, be preferable to a large back yard where they can run and play?

(Dutchess continues to whine. Dakota is fine. Dutchess wouldn’t be whining if she wasn’t usually catered to the instant she cries! Grrrr!)

And Dakota knocketh. Literally. She doesn’t bark, she knocks at the door. So I let them in.

@Dutchess_III My little Mona licks the patio door, it’s so weird but I can’t get her to bark for that.

I adore my dawg, but the day I help her with her homework & tell her to tidy her room has not yet dawned.

Or stuck her nose in her poop and threw her outside!

Sure, obviously there are incomparable differences. I’m thinking more about attitudes. IMO, my husband spoils the dogs. I wonder if he spoiled his kids too, giving in every time they cried, just to make them be quiet!

^ My husband does that for our kid, but not for the dog. Odd, eh?

Pffft! It just drives me nuts!

Yeah. Encourage whining, why don’t you? And you wonder why I’m pulling my hair out.

Yeah. Yeah. They let the kid / dog cry and whine for 3 minutes after they said “No, you can’t have that, ” only to turn around and say “OK!!! Here!”

Interesting idea. I think they may do. A lot of them, at least. Hm…interesting. GQ.

I tried an experiment on my Snuffy dog in the early 80’s before I had kids. She wasn’t supposed to be on the couch, but she’d jump up there anyway. I’d say, “Snuffy, get down!” She’d just thump her tail. I’d resort to yelling and shoving and she’d finally get down.
Then I thought, “What if I don’t yell at all. Just talk in a normal voice, only have a consequence immediately if she doesn’t get down?” So I started saying, “Get off the couch, Snuffy.” If all she did was thump her tail I’d give her a swat and she’d get down.
After the third time, being completely consistent, I could say, nicely, “Get off the couch, Snuffy,” and she would, immediately, with no further ado.
That’s how I learned it isn’t the volume of your voice, it’s consistent consequences that do the trick.

In a way if a person commits to an animal it does become their kid. I agree that pets are just as much work as children albeit differently.

I disagree. Pets are a lot less work.

Oh man…pets are waay less work than kids, and you don’t sit up half the night worrying about when they will be getting home, you don’t have to teach them to drive, they don’t talk back, they don’t rebel and they don’t argue with you and….you never have to worry if they are drinking or taking drugs. lol
They also don;t come home with pircings and tattoos. haha

And if they come home pregnant, no biggie. Just give the kids away and get them fixed!

@Dutchess_III The doggie hotel we use has a separate runner (half indoors, half indoors) for each dog, three dog per room. You get to bring your own food, any medicine, toys, blankets, etc. They play with the dogs and walk them 3–4 times per day. If dogs scream at night, they separate that pup from the others and put them in a separate room. All that for $18/night.

When the alternative is leaving them alone for days and not knowing if they knocked over or finished their food/water and are going without, if another animal got in and bit my dog, or if she got sick and no one was there to take her to the vet – yeah, easy choice. My first priority is ensuring the pet is safe.

Leaving a dog out in the yard all day while you’re at work or overnight if you’re out of town for a day is one thing. But a few days? No, it’s irresponsible.

We have friends or relatives check on the dogs at least once a day, to give them fresh water and food. I promise they’re a LOT happier, and more comfortable, out in their own yard and under the decks than they would be in some 4X10 concreted floor dog kennel, surrounded by strange dogs. And 3 dogs in one?

But that’s just me.

I try not to treat my dogs like a human as I feel that if we see them as little furry humans rather than dogs we can help create behavioural problems. I recently worked with a lady who treated her dogs so much like humans she had one sided conversations, including asking them questions, and then wondered why they paid no attention whatsoever to her voice when she asked them to come or sit. Her voice had become background noise. However, my dogs are definitely my family. They live in the house with me and sleep on my bed and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I try to instill in them good dog manners but don’t deny them little luxuries either.

Agreed @Leanne1986. They ARE dogs, not people.

@Dutchess_III Three runners in one room, one dog to a runner. And the ones we use are much roomier than the one you linked.

We don’t make friends with neighbors and we have no family members that would come over and check on the animals, but even if we did I’d only allow that if the dogs are walked and played with every day, and for longer than 10 minutes. The human interaction is good for them.

If you have more than one dog, which we don’t, it might be different. If we had a huge backyard, which we don’t, it might be different. But probably not.

@Dutchess_III I suppose it also depends on the climate you live in. Although dogs would probably (depending on age, general health etc) cope better with the elements than I do, I would never expect my dogs to live and sleep outside in England. The weather is too bad most of the time!

@Leanne1986 Good point. I’d never leave my dog outside for any extended period of time during a South Carolina summer. Temperatures of over 100 degrees? No, my dog deserves better. Out winters are mild, but I wouldn’t leave her outside in 35 degree weather either. There are only about three months of the year that I’d even consider leaving my pet outside, and we don’t vacation during those months.

@livelaughlove21 I enjoy having my dogs live in the house with me so, whilst I know that many dogs can and do live outside happily, I like that they curl up on the sofa with me of an evening and sleep on the bed with me at night, I find them comforting.

Nope. My kids are allowed on the furniture and get to eat at the table.

And they aren’t allowed to slurp stuff off of the floor, @Blondesjon. Or drink out of the toilet bowl. Or eat their own crap. Well, our dogs aren’t “allowed” to eat crap either, but sometimes you catch them and “OMG THAT IS SO DISGUSTING!!! THAT IS SOOOO GROSS!!! STOP IT!!!!” And they don’t react cuz they don’t speak English.

And because they are dogs.

I love my two mutts to pieces but I don’t humanize them because, like I said, they’re dogs.

@Blondesjon Really, not on any furniture? My dogs enjoy a $2000 brown leather couch that took 8 cow hides to make, and park their paws on my end tables that were another $1500. :)

Blanket covers the couch (unless company’s over) and tile-topped end tables are solid wood on iron legs, scratch-proof…lol

And I just wondered the other day why I don’t pull up chair and let the dog’s eat at the table, was that wrong?

Being a vegan, I just have to say is it weird that I think it’s weird that somehow some of us don’t see the disconnection?

What disconnection? And what does your being a vegan have to do with it?

Notice ” Princess Sonora” my blind and crippled little chinese goose in my avatar, napping on her princess pillow? Nuff said. Note: Bowl of Mazuri waterfowl chow, the BEST waterfowl feed on the market and her bit of leaf lettuce treat in the bowl. A picture IS worth a 1000 words. lol :-)

Ya Baby! ^^^^