Demoting the dog

I recently stumbled across this article on the Time website. I must say I’m quite appalled and disgusted, although I have seen it happen on several occasions. What was once a beloved pet and faithful friend, becomes, at best, a burden once the new “human” bundle of joy arrives. I witnessed it first hand this past spring when my husband’s friends had their first child. Within a week, what had been their beloved dog and friend, was being dropped off at the local animal shelter. Not because it wasn’t accepting to the new addition to the family, not because it had shown any aggression whatsoever, but just because “it didn’t fit into their plans anymore now that they had the new baby.” WTF?! And breeders call the childfree selfish?

I have no sympathy for the author of this article when she talks about the “horrible” things her dog does such as “settling at her feet as she read bedtime stories” and “panting by her knee as she cooked her daughter’s dinner.” Those are horrible things? I could understand your disgust with your pet if you had to constantly worry about being mauled, but all the dog wanted to do was be with you. What was so wrong with that?

Here was the part that really got me:

Dog lovers would call it unconditional love. They’re wrong. A dog’s love comes with a lengthy prenup: vet bills when it gets diarrhea; peroxide baths when it gets skunked; low-carb kibble when it gets old and fat. Through rich and poor, sickness and health, waning affection and growing annoyance, he is my dog, and I am his person.

Umm…hello! A kid is much more work and trouble than a dog. As if you don’t have all those obligations with a kid?! You are under a much stricter contract with kids, and let me assure you, most children are ungrateful little brats who don’t appreciate it. At least a dog (or cat, hamster, parakeet, etc.) will at least have some amount of gratitude.

I have one dog and one cat (who are actually great buddies), and I can’t even imagine for a second a kid coming close to replacing them even if I wanted kids. I mean, they were there first. What if this woman has another child? Will the first one become the “pest” when it starts wanting attention and having to compete with the new baby? What then? The animal lover and childfree person in me just wants to slug people like that. Animals are not “disposable”, and I just can’t understand how these parents can just merely toss them aside like they’re yesterday’s news. GRRR…

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