Do you remember your first dog or cat? Perhaps even your first boa constrictor? Whatever your preference, pets can play a huge role in our lives, even becoming full-fledged family members. But is domestication really in an animal’s best interest? Does pet ownership create a loving bond between human and animal, or does it only serve our own interests?
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Should We Keep Pets?
Yes and No
We should provide safe and loving homes for the animals currently in need of homes - for example, the ones at animal shelters.
We should not breed any more "pets" into existence. Puppy mills are cruel. And there's no such thing as a "responsible dog breeder."
We should stop calling our furry (or scaled) family members "pets." They deserve better. Call them "companion animals" or "animal companions." Better yet, call them by their names.
Animals who are in the care of humans ought to be treated similarly to children. Their needs and development should determine their care; not the needs or desires of the "owners."
- ElaineVigneault
August 30, 2008 12:40AM
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Reasonable
Apart from your "responsible breeder" attitude & not breeding idea, what you've said is fairly reasonable. Not breeding animal companions or companion animals , (because im sure my pet dog cares what title she receives), will mean none for future generations to enjoy. As even shelter animals will grow old & die eventually & then what? (Oh, i know, maybe we could start enjoying "companion rocks". You can't breed them & there's never a short supply.) Pet ownership which humans & animals alike have enjoyed for thousands of years will become extinct along with all of our animal friends. Which the majority of dog breeders don't want to happen to their particular choice of animal companions (WE choose our friends, why not our animal friends?) in any other species preventing their extinction would be viewed as commendable not just responsible. I don't agree with puppy farms, most breeders don't & having said that putting puppy farms in the same sentence as breeders is unfair. Puppy farmers ARE NOT breeders.
- OpenedEyes
May 31, 2009 8:07AM
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Should keep mentally retarded "pets"?
Good evening Opened Eyes. I was just wondering if you had read the argument by Gary Francione against pet ownership ? I know you must already have an opinion about the subject which is why you clicked on the debate topic, but please take some time to read the argument -it's a good read (even if you choose to disagree).
May I play "switch the species" to see how this works? Let's try it on ourselves. I'll requote you switching "slave" for "pet" and "animal", and switch "human" for "master" or "slave trader".
"Slave ownership which masters & slaves alike have enjoyed for thousands of years will become extinct. Which the majority of slave breeders/traders don't want to happen to their particular choice of slave companions (WE choose our friends, why not our slave friends?)"
You may think human slaves and non-human animal " pets " are completely different and my analogy is irrelevant? But the underlying principle of being property to another and being stripped of basic rights (no matter how happy), still applies to animals .
Animals are not capable of consenting to being a pet, particularly ones who were born into it and conditioned to it. An animal born into a captive life is used to it. You couldn't take in a wild cat for example, they would choose the wild over you. Switch the species. What if we used mentally retarded people as companion "pets", would that be ok? And how about if we bred these retarded people especially to be companion pets? They don't know any better and accept the life they are given. Many of them are even happy with their life as a pet and property to others. No of course it's not ok to do this. It's not ok to do it to humans, it's not ok to do it to cats and dogs and all other animals exploited for this purpose.
- Desert Girl
June 12, 2009 8:08AM
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friendship isnt slavery
Your analogy is true in some ways but flawed in others. The relationship between a slave master and a slave are possibly 99.9% of the time, are the degrading, violent, inhumane treatment of another. This is true only if animals were put through long hours of intensive labor, working hours before the sun had rising and still working many hours after the sun had set. That obviously isnt the case, though you can make that analogy if such an animal was being inhumanly treated under abuse where animals are put through degrading violent treatment, but if an animal was in a healthy and loving household were they were part of the family, why is that considered slavery? Also i dont understand how pets or animal companions are "stripped of basic rights"? As a dog owner, he has the right to eat, sleep, live, breathe...are you looking for the right of freedom?? well unfortunatly if i gave him that right he would run right out the door and into four lane traffic. You say that dogs and cats dont need us but there are millions of dogs and cats that are homeless or in shelters that need our help so they can live better lives instead of rotting in a cage. And also dogs and cats, for example, cant just suddenly roam free because then dogs and cats will be piling up the roadside along side with deer, raccoons, and many other animals killed by humans. The reality of the situation is that animal companion will always need us because we humans have made it that way. With all the conservation going on around the world, and human influence of animal i can imagine centuries from now wild and exotic animals such as tigers being a domesticated animal.
- jablonkas319
July 19, 2009 2:54AM
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Oh give me a break
I have 3 dogs, 4 cats and 4 horses. Every dam one of them if given the chance to choose wild freedom -v- forced domestication - would jump up and down for domestication. My horses love having a barn to come into, a blanket when they are cold, veterinary care when they are sick or injured. My dogs get to lay around, play, and just be generally lazy - they are elated that they don't have to hunt for their food or live with insects and disease. This throwing animals back to the wild just makes YOU feel good so stop ranting about what the animals want. I can guarantee you, they would be beating our doors down to come live with us.
- OhForTheLoveOfGod September 10, 2009 10:58AM
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