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Comment by maccard | Hacker News Reader

> Tons of effort to keep that from happening, and to have a pet that doesn’t destroy your home?

It's their home too.

OP's situation was a rescue dog from a likely abusive previous home. There are often pets available for people who are not able to handle that situation; My dog peed on the rug occasionally for about 3 weeks, and pooped indoors twice, and it's not happened again in 3 years. To pull the "children" card, children make huge messes, cannot be unattended or unsupervised for years, destroy homes, and yet that's not seen as "burdensome"

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> It's their home too.

It’s not. You’re choosing to allow a very dirty animal to inhabit your home. There’s a difference.

> To pull the "children" card …

Children are seen as burdensome, but they are also seen as human, and eventually, will be human adults.

They also tend to not do things like eat your furniture, can be more regularly bathed, and smell a lot better, too.

Oh, and they’re humans. Did I mention that already? If a non-human animal is slotting itself into our biological drive to parent, that’s a parasite.

> It’s not. You’re choosing to allow a very dirty animal to inhabit your home. There’s a difference.

My home with a dog is much cleaner than most of my friends with toddlers. My dog keeps herself _mostly_ clean and groomed, my friends kids do _not_.

> They also tend to not do things like eat your furniture, can be more regularly bathed, and smell a lot better, too.

Not all dogs chew destructively, and most that do tend to have other behavioural issues. Are you really claiming that children _aren't_ destructive to your home? My parents tell the story of the time I decided that the TV character was thirsty so I poured a soda into the VCR over the CRT TV and destroyed both of them. Dogs don't sweat, so they dont' _need_ to be bathed as regularly. Sure she rolls around in crap in the park every few days and gets hosed down in the bath, but that's about the extent of it really.

> Oh, and they’re humans. Did I mention that already?

Children being human doesn't mean that dogs don't deserve to coexist with us.

> It’s not.

It is.

> Children are seen as burdensome

Children are burdensome full stop. They eat my money, which hurts me more than if they chewed on the furniture.

> Oh, and they’re humans.

Yes, they are. The waste of resources and pollution they imply is massive compared to dogs. But why caring about the environment, there's a lot of everything for everyone laying around, isn't it.

> non-human animal is slotting itself

He hasn't. He roams around freely.

> You’re choosing to allow a very dirty animal

Yes it's my choice and it gets as dirty as my kid does. Guess what, they're animals. Did you notice already? They're animals like you.

Jeez, what's with the hate? Why do you have such a problem with somebody else caring about an animal as if it were family?

Children are seen as burdensome, but as most parents will say: "It's all worth it, you get so much in return"...

I think what parent was really asking is "why bother having a dog at all"?

Companionship and undying loyalty. They are fun to have around.

It’s undying physical and emotional dependence, not loyalty.

That said, maybe that’s fun for you; everyone has their own preferences.

This comment seems needlessly condescending.

It looks like the concept of dog ownership is making you worried or puzzled? In the past I also didn’t get dog ownership and now it makes sense to me, if that helps. I’m not saying that it should make sense to you (see also my earlier comment [1]).

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30741072

I think the relationship is itself pathological, and it’s burdensome to the rest of us that have to deal with modern codependent dog owners bringing their ill-behaved pet everywhere.

As opposed to a cohort of self-centered, relationship handicapped, intolerant jerks prone to narrow mindedness and rude rants on discussion forums and elsewhere, I know which one I would prefer to have for a harmonious society and whom I find more offensive.

> self-centered, relationship handicapped, intolerant jerks prone to narrow mindedness and rude rants on discussion forums and elsewhere

You could easily be describing the dog owners here who were just confronted with the fact that their emotional codependency with a dirty animal — and tendency to replace healthy human relationships, foisting their pet onto others in public, at restaurants, on trails, et al — is not, in fact, a behavior subject to universal acclaim.

I agree about causing actual inconvenience in public places, this shouldn't happen. But why are you bothered by the fact that some people are emotionally codependent with a dirty animal? I think you should either let people and dogs enjoy each other; or show some actual proof that the human-dog relationship is harmful; but many sources say otherwise [1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human–canine_bond#Benefits

> it’s burdensome to the rest of us that have to deal with modern codependent dog owners bringing their ill-behaved pet everywhere.

I have had _far_ more issues with people bringing their ill behaved friends/children/parents places than I have with pets. If you go out to a café for lunch, it's acceptable to leave children run around because that's what kids do, but dogs are almost always kept quietly under the table out of the way. It's common for people to blast crappy music on the beach that everyone else around them has to listen to, or for them to leave rubbish behind them, yet it's expected (rightly so) that I pick up after my dog and keep her out of the way of other people on the beach.

The bit about pathological relationship seems very subjective. I'm guessing you've had bad experiences with dog owners or pets. Obviously the human-dog relationship should be good for all parties involved.

I agree about ill-behaving pets; a lot of people should take better care of their dogs. E.g. invest more in socialising, avoid places where the dog is uncomfortable, etc.

It's the exact same response, you get so much in return!

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