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The article makes some interesting points, which I think could be applied to BUYING your dog, but in the case of a rescue dog, the ethics are very different. M

The article makes some interesting points, which I think could be applied to BUYING your dog, but in the case of a rescue dog, the ethics are very different. My dog was bred to race but sucked at it. Had she not been rescued and adopted, her life would be substantially worse than it is today, assuming she survived at all. It's pretty hard for me to imagine a negative analysis of our arrangement. The author also makes a distinction between pets and working dogs, as if owning a dog to corral your sheep is somehow more ethical than having one for companionship. I don't get this part at all.

camillomiller 5y ago
I agree that the shepherd dog comparison was weird. As if breeding and training a dog for a utilitarian purpose would inherently be better than owning a dog for companionship.
- mikechalmers 5y ago
  I don't know much about it, but it does seem to me that dogs love having jobs like this (much more so than be stuck at home most of the day) but this is just the impression I get.
- _hu6p 5y ago
  I think their point was that, sheepherding is a more fulling activity for the dog than whatever human based exercise. i.e. the stimulation a dog gets from sheepherding outweighs the stimulation it gets from playing fetch and catch with a human.
hirundo 5y ago
> owning a dog to corral your sheep is somehow more ethical than having one for companionship. I I have a non-working companion dog, but I think in general working dogs like sheep dogs have more fulfilling lives, which is therefore more ethical than keeping me company. But since that isn't really an option for my particular dog, there's nothing wrong with my keeping and just loving the heck out of her.
- k8sToGo 5y ago
  Maybe it is time we adopt sheep as pets as well :)
hawski 5y ago
I wonder if people stopped rescuing dogs would it decrease also demand for breeding new dogs. Or can you stop demand for dogs if you would still rescue as much as possible?
- navane 5y ago
  If people would stop rescuing dogs, those dogs would live to die in cages or be put down. I don't see how this would feed back into the demand for breeding.

camillomiller 5y ago

I agree that the shepherd dog comparison was weird. As if breeding and training a dog for a utilitarian purpose would inherently be better than owning a dog for companionship.

mikechalmers 5y ago
I don't know much about it, but it does seem to me that dogs love having jobs like this (much more so than be stuck at home most of the day) but this is just the impression I get.
_hu6p 5y ago
I think their point was that, sheepherding is a more fulling activity for the dog than whatever human based exercise. i.e. the stimulation a dog gets from sheepherding outweighs the stimulation it gets from playing fetch and catch with a human.

hirundo 5y ago

> owning a dog to corral your sheep is somehow more ethical than having one for companionship. I I have a non-working companion dog, but I think in general working dogs like sheep dogs have more fulfilling lives, which is therefore more ethical than keeping me company. But since that isn't really an option for my particular dog, there's nothing wrong with my keeping and just loving the heck out of her.

k8sToGo 5y ago
Maybe it is time we adopt sheep as pets as well :)

hawski 5y ago

I wonder if people stopped rescuing dogs would it decrease also demand for breeding new dogs. Or can you stop demand for dogs if you would still rescue as much as possible?

navane 5y ago
If people would stop rescuing dogs, those dogs would live to die in cages or be put down. I don't see how this would feed back into the demand for breeding.