Dogs V Humans

Now this isn’t the most jolly of posts but I had previously decided that I would write about whatever happened to be on my mind that was pet related and this has been on my mind for a while now. 

 

Something occurred to me several weeks ago. I think it happened during interactions with other dogs and their owners. 

 

I currently have a puppy who is just 6 months old and I am trying to get him socialised. I keep him on his lead as we approach other dogs as he is a bit too keen to meet them, which I am putting down to his age. Upon meeting some dogs, the owners tighten their grip on the lead while wrapping it around their hand to shorten it’s length. They also explain how the dog is a rescue and isn’t great with other dogs, I naturally accept this, keep a distance and forgive the animal for snarling and wanting to attack my puppy. I’m certain that every dog owner had had many similar experiences. 

The dictionary definition of Rescued is to be saved ‘from a dangerous or difficult situation.’ While this can vary quite a lot, we all accept that many of these situations will result in a dog having very different behaviour to what we would consider ideal, and why wouldn’t we? Very few of us are animal psychologists but it’s common sense, surely? 

 

When our dogs get old and sometimes very ill, we often have to make the difficult decision of stepping in and asking our vets to administer the lethal injection which will end the dogs life, but with it, any pain and suffering and often a very poor quality of life. Doing this is incredibly heartbreaking but is accepted, mostly without question, as being the right thing to do. 

 

What occurred to me then, is how we seem to treat our animals in a much more compassionate way than we do other human beings. 

We label people as anti-social but rarely consider their background or upbringing. We spend thousands of pounds on keeping family members alive beyond their natural abilities and often their own desire. 

The phrase to ‘treat someone like an animal’ is a very negative one and suggests they are treated badly, but personally, I think that in certain situations I’d quite like to be treated like an animal. 

 

To finish on a lighter note, the puppy is doing very well, and meets lots of dogs in the shop. His name is Nelson and he is a tri-coloured border collie.