Q: Are Pets Family?
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A: Uh, YES???!!!! How is this even a question, people?
Of course pets are family. Jeez. Growing up I never owned more than a goldfish because I was afraid of dogs, now I regret that so much because I’ve had CK with me for 7 years and every day with the pooch is so awesome I know I would have loved to have a small dog as a kid.
Tell this face he isn’t part of the family, for the love of…
14 Responses to “Q: Are Pets Family?”
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Question for all those who consider their pets to be equal family members with humans:
If your house was on fire and you had the ability to save either your child or your dog/cat, which would you save? Personally, I’d step over my dog to save my kid.
Oliver, if it were either your mom or CK, whom would you save?
Are pets “members of the family”? Sure, in a way. But let’s not claim they’re furry children.
Question for all those who consider their pets to be equal family members with humans:
If your house was on fire and you had the ability to save either your child or your dog/cat, which would you save? Personally, I’d step over my dog to save my kid.
Oliver, if it were either your mom or CK, whom would you save?
Are pets “members of the family”? Sure, in a way. But let’s not claim they’re furry children.
There is to be a dogs for dems site soon, OW. I met someone recently who created a scooper-pooper gathering bag that reads ‘Mission Accomplished’ when one wishes to walk the dog in the neighborhood or a park with W’s pic on one side and Cheney’s on the other. Would CK approve?
Considering the size of my dog, saving him and my mom is certainly a viable option. Chances are in most households the dog is considered so much a part of the family that one of the kids that are to be rescued would be off looking for their dog. The question is kind of silly, because you might as well ask a parent if they would rescue first their first, last or middle child.
My dog is very much a major part of our family, period.
Benny: CK has a clear anti-terror record, and considers Bush and Cheney miserable failures.
If a ‘pet’ has personnality ‘it’ is a person
Oliver, you didn’t answer my question. (The “either/or” construction stipulates that you can only save one or the other.) “Both,” while convenient, wasn’t an option.
I’m not trying to make this personal; I just don’t understand how someone can value their pet as much as their wife/mother/child/etc. If someone has to hesitate for even a second over whether they’d save their dog over their own mom (or child or spouse or whatever), that scares me.
(BTW, I think the “Sophie’s Choice” example you provided is not the same. I presume that if I had three children, that I would love them all equally, making any sort of “choice” very difficult – it would probably come down to who I had the ability to save, whose room was closest, if one of the children was too young to walk, etc. If it were only my dog and my child, however, it would be my child first a million times out of a million.)
Jubo,
First, that reminds me of the Pulp Fiction conversation “a dog’s got personality – personality goes a long way…”
Second, does the argument “if it has a personality, it’s a person” apply to all animals? If a chicken that is bred for food has personality, is it a person? If a farm animal raised by a 4-H kid at the county fair (many of which are slaughtered soon thereafter) has a personality, is it a person? How about a rabid bat? Or a lion? Or is it just animals that live in houses with people?
If a ‘pet’ has personality ‘it’ is a person
A dog has personality. Personality goes a long way.
Ah, but by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, it would cease to be a filthy animal.
BTW, that’s bullshit. My dog is a member of my family, but he isn’t a person. He’s a dog. I don’t let him forget that.
Oh, they just let you think they’re a part of your family. Actually, they’re letting you be a member of their pack.
True, but, not to quibble, he is a member of my pack.
I don’t think it’s a real question. I love my mom and I love my dog. He’s not just some animal, he’s part of the family. He is a member of the family. I would sacrifice life and limb to save his life the same way I would for my mother. Again, it’s the same as asking which child you would save – a nonstarter for most parents because they’d try to save every child they had.
Many animals have personalities that their owners see in them, I don’t know which pets are and aren’t included. But my dog has a very definite personality, likes and dislikes, the capacity to love and protect (if anyone were to attack me or my family their ankles would be ground meat!). He’s not just some dog, especially not to me.
True dat.