Hacker News Reader

Comment by vinculuss | Hacker News Reader

The domestication of dogs was something that was mutually beneficial at the time. The use of leashes on a walk is for the sake of safety, not because the dog wants to escape.

If you're talking about abused dogs being chained up and not taken care of, you're right. That is unethical.

View on HN

Dogs all around the world today live more often than not on small cramped apartment demarcations (or kennels), much like a baby's playpen even though--and as opposed to how owners tend to treat cute ones--dogs are not babies forever. They're pretty much kept "on notice" for whenever owners feel like playing with them, at the end of a hard working day. I tend to think that's pretty close to slavery, you could make a case for Stockholm's syndrome at the least, since owners normally end up preventing dogs from interacting with other dogs at will (!) or even castrate (!!) them. You know, smoke a joint, have kids--find some other stress reliever and bonding mate, and as a bonus you get not to feed a reckless breeding industry.

Point well taken - for people who abuse and mistreat their dogs. But I hope you're not tarring everybody with the same brush.

We rescued our three dogs through a wonderful no-kill shelter here in Redwood City, Pets in Need:

http://www.petsinneed.org/

I don't know what industry we were feeding with our modest adoption fees and donations, other than Pets in Need's mission of rescuing dogs from kill shelters.

So here's an example of how badly we abuse our dogs. Meet ThinkPad Dog:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geary/12356111084/

I guess my bigger point is that if you're someone whose work day involves the dog (a farmer, a policeman, blind people), that's great, "man's best friend" for me is exactly in this sense of the dog thinking of you as peer, not owner, of being side-by-side helping along and being an active dog. If you're gonna keep your dog in close quarters for the limited time you can see him and walk him, I don't think that's to be encouraged--dogs as house pets, that is. Of course, much like adopting abandoned kids, what you do is very noble and lessens the suffering of dogs, but I don't think that leads to being supportive of "pet culture", especially where people buy brand new pups and of races breeded for quality X that end up with all sorts of cruel diseases--that's feeding the industry.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com