are people animals?

[Chubminnow]

It takes all kinds...and every one who has posted here has made a good point. Some folks think dog's are here to serve them, to make them money, etc...there are so called puppy mills where new litters are born and forced to live in unspicable conditions, bitches forced to produce litter after litter. There are folks who want nothing more than to have an angry animal on a chain ready to eat the hide off his opponent in his next match while the owner stands by hoping to collect cash made on bets.

On the flip side there are some people who DO treat their dog's better than they treat some people in society. I think this type of person has social issues as much as the types of people I just wrote about in the paragraph above.

In my opinion...I don't see how anyone could sell a dog unless, UNLESS...The owner was deployed over seas, become stricken with bad health or simply cannot afford to continue supporting and caring for the dog...sometimes when people sell they're doing it in the best interest of the dog. All sells aren't due to selfishness. Dog's need to be included in the family, they need jobs to do, they need to feel wanted and needed, they want to be productive just like people do. In my opinion if you own a dog and only feed and water him and do nothing else then you are missing out one what owning a dog is all about. They'll be a loyal partner and team mate if you work with them.

[DJD]

My Dad was a dog lover and a big baby when it came to animals. He seemed to get along with every animal big or small and wanted to help all the time. We ended up with two dogs that people had to do something with because they were being shipped overseas. Jake was a huge white boxer and Guardo was a huge German Shepherd. We already had a poodle and ended up with these dogs about three years apart and as a kid I was in heaven with these big dogs.
Jake and Guardo lived happy lives from there on out. Toby the poodle learned to live with it....

[Tom523]

My daughter brought me a beagle that was chained to a dumpster for 3 days down in Louisville. I had already had 3 beagles but could not let this one go to the pound. She weighed 8 lbs. and the vet said she was about 5 years old. Well she's 20 lbs. now and is the wife's little snugglebug.

[Fishin is life]

I may have came across a bit more harsh than I had originally intended to....I'm not saying that a dog isn't a part of your family and that you shouldn't love your dog....I think lots of people are starting to be unable to decipher the difference between people and their pets....Even though you may love them and consider them a part of your family, you also have to remember that they're an animal, not a human....People are becoming dillusional thinking their animal is higher on the totem people than the people that surround them

I say this because I know a man, well respected and not mentally ill, that honest to goodness treats his little dog MUCH better than he treats his son....The line has to be drawn somewhere and that line seems to be getting more blurry to some people

I also agree with the guy that said there are reasons for selling dogs...I also must add that if you can't give the dog the life it deserves, selling it is much better than taking it out back and putting it down

[bassin_bug]

Over the years I have read about dogs having to be re-homed or sent to the animal shelter because their elderly owners either died or had to go into the nursing home. For assorted reasons, family members don't want to take them. That is sad because animals grieve for their owners and can't understand why, all of a sudden, nobody wants them.

I understand why some people pay thousands of dollars for a dog; Police K-9 comes to mind and so do Service Dogs that aid the disabled and the blind.

I paid a few hundred dollars each for my pups and a few hundred for Vet checks, immunizations, blood tests, and worm tests, and for Mollie to have minor narel surgery. I bought them a nice feather bed to sleep on but that didn't work out. They soon discovered that it worked well for a trampoline and night time turned into playtime.

When Leona Helmsley died she left $12 million for a caretaker to live in her mansion and take care of her dog. I think it died a couple of years ago.

Michael Jackson paid $15 thousand for a diamond studded collar for Elizabeth Taylor's dog.

[RoadToad]

You're right about how some people treat dogs better than people, to the nth degree sometimes. Like leaving a dog a large sum of money in your will and cutting out your children, and ridiculous things like that. I love my dog, but I think I keep it in perspective. When one dies, it makes me sad for a day or so, then I get over it, knowing that we had a good run together