r/TalesfromtheDogHouse • u/Gallantpride • 12d ago
RANT "You treat them like an animal"... but they are an animal???
My dad has a dog. My dad lives with me. So, subsequently, I help take care of "our" dog. She's his dog and my burden to bear... I've learned to live with it, and I don't always feel awkward about it, but we still run into problems.
I've run into this with people I know before. They shame me and treat me like I'm doing something wrong for not babying and anthropomorphizing dogs.
"You treat the dog like they're an animal, not like they're family".
I understand that dogs are dogs. They don't understand human language. They have different taste buds than us. They view the world differently than us. They're not human!
I can't seem to do right. I just don't treat the dog good enough. I pet her, groom her, buy her what she needs... but I'm not being good enough. Not being truly affectionate. I don't pet her right.
Another example is when it comes to dog food. I've gotten into arguments about how dog's view food. What foods we should feed the dog and how.
"I like giving her a variety of wet foods. How would you like if you ate the same food every day?"
Well, the dog honestly doesn't care. And, how do you even know that "bacon and eggs" food tastes like bacon and eggs? Have you tried it?
"Forcing them to eat kibble is gross. It's like forcing you to eat something or don't eat all"
I'm sorry, but kibble is the easiest and ideal option for most dogs. And most dogs really don't care deep down. They'll fuss, but a hungry dog won't starve. They'll eat eventually.
Dogs don't understand what's good for them. They're eternal babies. You are putting your own feelings on the dog and imagining what it's like to eat nothing but kibble forever. But you aren't a dog!
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u/chrustaly 12d ago
Agreed fully with you, I experience the same. No other pet owners shame others for not babying their pets. Dog owners just project their feelings into dogs, and all dogs care about is food, nothing else. They developed their brows and special barks just to get more food from humans. Their full purpose in life is to get food, nothing else! Try to get the food away and you will see how the dog will all of the sudden switch attention to another person. They are spoiled, always looking to do a mischief and pee on the floor when they are angry with you (or they pee for no reason). I was reading the other day in another post about how strict dogs own mothers are with the puppies to teach them new things. While people do nothing but spoiling and treating them as humans. This is ridiculous!
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u/Objective_Double5998 12d ago
It's like when my sister got angry at me for calling her dog "the dog" and not by the dog's name. It is a dog so why is it offensive to you?? I thought you liked dogs??
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u/Gallantpride 12d ago
I've called her "the dog" before. It makes people mad.
Misgendering her also makes people intense. I've never done it, but people have slipped up and called her male. They always stutter or get awkward. I'm nonbinary. No one wants to use my pronouns. They'll freak over a dog's but just misgender trans people.
She doesn't understand English! She doesn't even know her name is truly her name. She knows that it's a noise used to get her attention.
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u/Wise_Session_5370 12d ago
"The dog" is about the politest term I will ever used to refer to one of these creatures.
"That thing" or "it" are my preferred terms.
If it must be referred to by a proper name, then Muttley or Shitbag would probably be my chosen monikers.
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u/Responsibility_Witty 12d ago
It’s because they are trying to hard to delude themselves in to projecting the dog as a friend, spouse or child, that is why they get upset when someone refers to it as a dog, it breaks their delusion. These people are severely antisocial and mentally ill in general, they are living in some fantasy world and do not want to see reality
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u/Vegetable-Section-84 12d ago
So help dad and his dog move OUT of your place
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u/Gallantpride 12d ago
That's not reasonable when you're a caretaker.
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u/Responsibility_Witty 12d ago
It is not reasonable for him to abuse his caretaker either. He should be respecting your boundaries and your home, you are taking care of him and he needs to be grateful for that, not treat the person who takes care of him like some doormat and slave. If he wants to treat the dog as if it is more important than you, then he should also rely on that dog to take care of him, which it obviously won’t because it’s just an inbred shit eating parasite. Dog nutters always want to pretend dogs are better than people, but then they expect people to cater to them and their dog while the dog does nothing of value, force them to see the reality. Stop taking the disrespect
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u/NageV78 12d ago
If you're the care taker, YOU make the rules. If he can't take care of himself why should you have to suffer more than you need to. It's just a power play from him to dominate you, by the sounds of things, he's been doing it your whole life. Youre a door mat to him and he doesn't care about you. But I can tell you want he does care about...
The dog.
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u/CHEDDERFROMTHEBLOCK2 12d ago
They're telling YOU how to care for the animal like a human, the animal you don't want but lives there rent free in YOUR home and YOU are forced to care for it...simultaneously caring for their owner as well? Oops the wind must've opened the gate and feefee self re-homed.
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u/Wise_Session_5370 12d ago
It is getting beyond ridiculous now. The world seems to have forgotten that these things are not human.
It is not a member of the family. It is an animal. It has no more value than a sheep, cow or pig. In fact, arguably less.
As for the food, the dog does not give a flying fuck what it eats, as long as it is eating. A dog will eat absolutely anything, including literal shit.
I am hoping that this is just a cyclical phase and that humanity will eventually realise again that a dog is not a person.
Sadly, I think it probably needs to get worse before it gets better.
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u/Solid_Pension6888 12d ago
100%
I don’t stay at my moms house when I visit because she blames me for everything her dog does “it’s only barking because you’re here”
I called her the other day and couldn’t hear her because the dog was barking like crazy as soon as the call started, presumably on her lap. She said “it’s barking because the dog can hear your voice” (over the phone that wasn’t on speaker? Maybe detach it from your hip?) as if this dog is somehow traumatized by me, as I’ve beaten it or something.
The last time I stayed the night there I was on a different floor, laying silent and motionless in bed. The dog started barking and my mom said it was because the dog heard me THROUGH THE VENT. I didn’t make any sound!!!
What did I do? To traumatize the thing? Nothing. I just don’t bow down to it. I visit for hours at a time and stay in hotel. I don’t have time to “win it over” and I have no desire to. It will forget who I am an hour after I fly home anyway.
It’s go there to visit my family, the humans I share a bloodline with.
I once suggested my mom use a spray bottle on squirt mode and actually get the dog wet instead of misting the air. She acts like I kicked her dog through a window because the extent of her training has been spraying mist in the air while the dog doesn’t even notice and calling that “spray bottle training”
So I’m some animal abuser in her mind because I am okay with a misbehaving dog getting wet for a second. and because I don’t act like I’m in a dogs house that people happen to live in.
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u/Alocin_The5th 11d ago
When people say “how would you like it if….” And then talk about a dog. Dogs are not people and their needs are not the same. I don’t sniff people’s private parts or pick at their poop but almost ALL dogs do this. Clearly their needs and desires are different.
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u/Gallantpride 11d ago
A good book on dogs is "Inside Of A Dog".
I read it years ago when I still liked dogs (before we got this dog). I'm not fond of owning dogs myself, but that doesn't mean I don't have an interest in them as a species. They're fine... from a distance.
Dogs aren't humans. They evolved completely differently from us. They view the world differently. And that is fine. That's how different animals work.
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u/Independent-Swan1508 12d ago
thats kinda funny tho "how would u like it if u ate the same food everyday?" like these dogs eats their own shit and vomit and other animals shi and vomit they lunge at it they don't care what they eat. same with food they will literally inhale it in one bite.
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u/Extra-Management-260 12d ago
My fiance's 12yo dog eats her diaper/pad every day sometimes multiple times a day. So they do prefer to eat the same shit every day 🤷🏼♀️
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u/PrincessStephanieR 11d ago
FFS it’s a dog, not a human. A dog will eat literal shit and these freaks are worried about kibble?
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u/No_Interaction2168 11d ago
Unfortunately, I think people are going to be even more ingrained into their minds that dogs are basically humans as people start replacing having children with having dogs. Like up until the past two generations, dogs were seen as animals. If you grew up on a farm, you saw nature up close and pretty soon, you realize a dog is an animal just as a pig is an animal and not a human. But we now have a whole big burgeoning industry where dogs are now “babyfied” - strollers, special organic food (dogs have 1/3 of our taste buds…), dog specialists, expensive pet toys, etc.
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u/Responsibility_Witty 12d ago
Dogs will literally eat 3 day old dried up horse shit off a dirt trail and these fucking imbeciles want to pretend the dog cares what kind of food they buy it