5 ms·

Some people have pets they love. Some people have jobs they need that have long hours. The intersection of those sets is not empty. I guess I’m glad your life i

Some people have pets they love. Some people have jobs they need that have long hours. The intersection of those sets is not empty. I guess I’m glad your life is so great that this isn’t a problem for you. Some grace for people not you may serve you well in life.

rkomorn 1y ago
My dog would bark if we left her alone. Wouldn't make a difference to us since we wouldn't hear it, but I refuse to subject my neighbors to it. I've had neighbors that clearly had no such concerns.
- exasperaited 1y ago
  I too have neighbours who have no such concerns. One of them was within hours of me calling the RSPCA to protect their terrified, yapping lonely pup until another neighbour politely talked to them. [0] Those people shouldn't have pets either. It's a childish western obsession: grown people with lifestyle animals. It has only got worse as childish western people acquired puppies to process their pandemic loneliness that they left alone when their old lives returned, while serious (poor) people had to deliver them food. [0] which in retrospect I wish I'd done, because it would have exposed rather earlier exactly why the small dog was being left on its own in a garden of a house where the family in question were not actually resident. The small dog was perhaps trying to communicate something that might have materially changed our behaviour.
exasperaited 1y ago
There is a solution to this, though, and it is the solution that generations -- generations -- of people have chosen. 1) don't have a pet that you will have to leave alone for too long because it is cruel to do this just so you have a pet to keep you company when you have time to enjoy it 2) there is no 2) I have plenty of grace for people in my life -- much, much more than you might imagine. I have no patience for people who treat the happiness of their pet as transactional and have created a service economy to support it.
- ectospheno 1y ago
  Life is change. Many people get pets when they can take care of them. Then their job changes. I think you and I may differ on the meaning of grace and patience.
  - SketchySeaBeast 1y ago
    And pets can be a twenty year commitment. If the possibility of a dog having to end up in doggie daycare is so heinous a thought that one shouldn't ever allow it, then the answer is no one should have pets, because no one can effectively plan for that time. People move, accidents happen, partners leave, life conditions change, it is totally unavoidable.
    - exasperaited 1y ago
      > then the answer is no one should have pets That is definitely the more ethical answer, then. I do not have a pet because despite having the space and working from home, I would be asking an animal to be lonely with me when it could be happier elsewhere, I would have to leave that animal in kennels if I needed to travel, and as a non-driver there are too many ways I have to travel where it is IMO inappropriate to take a pet. This is not a thing that makes me personally happy. But it's the more ethical answer. > Accidents happen, partners leave, life conditions change, it is totally unavoidable. And pets can be found new homes in those rare situations.
      - ectospheno 1y ago
        > And pets can be found new homes in those rare situations. The average lifespan of a dog is 10-13 years. The average lifespan of a cat is 13-17 years. The average tenure for a job in the US is 4 years. It isn't rare. Can I guess you'd give up your child too if your job changed?
        exasperaited 1y ago
        [flagged]

rkomorn 1y ago

My dog would bark if we left her alone. Wouldn't make a difference to us since we wouldn't hear it, but I refuse to subject my neighbors to it. I've had neighbors that clearly had no such concerns.

exasperaited 1y ago
I too have neighbours who have no such concerns. One of them was within hours of me calling the RSPCA to protect their terrified, yapping lonely pup until another neighbour politely talked to them. [0] Those people shouldn't have pets either. It's a childish western obsession: grown people with lifestyle animals. It has only got worse as childish western people acquired puppies to process their pandemic loneliness that they left alone when their old lives returned, while serious (poor) people had to deliver them food. [0] which in retrospect I wish I'd done, because it would have exposed rather earlier exactly why the small dog was being left on its own in a garden of a house where the family in question were not actually resident. The small dog was perhaps trying to communicate something that might have materially changed our behaviour.

exasperaited 1y ago

There is a solution to this, though, and it is the solution that generations -- generations -- of people have chosen. 1) don't have a pet that you will have to leave alone for too long because it is cruel to do this just so you have a pet to keep you company when you have time to enjoy it 2) there is no 2) I have plenty of grace for people in my life -- much, much more than you might imagine. I have no patience for people who treat the happiness of their pet as transactional and have created a service economy to support it.

ectospheno 1y ago
Life is change. Many people get pets when they can take care of them. Then their job changes. I think you and I may differ on the meaning of grace and patience.
- SketchySeaBeast 1y ago
  And pets can be a twenty year commitment. If the possibility of a dog having to end up in doggie daycare is so heinous a thought that one shouldn't ever allow it, then the answer is no one should have pets, because no one can effectively plan for that time. People move, accidents happen, partners leave, life conditions change, it is totally unavoidable.
  - exasperaited 1y ago
    > then the answer is no one should have pets That is definitely the more ethical answer, then. I do not have a pet because despite having the space and working from home, I would be asking an animal to be lonely with me when it could be happier elsewhere, I would have to leave that animal in kennels if I needed to travel, and as a non-driver there are too many ways I have to travel where it is IMO inappropriate to take a pet. This is not a thing that makes me personally happy. But it's the more ethical answer. > Accidents happen, partners leave, life conditions change, it is totally unavoidable. And pets can be found new homes in those rare situations.
    - ectospheno 1y ago
      > And pets can be found new homes in those rare situations. The average lifespan of a dog is 10-13 years. The average lifespan of a cat is 13-17 years. The average tenure for a job in the US is 4 years. It isn't rare. Can I guess you'd give up your child too if your job changed?
      - exasperaited 1y ago
        [flagged]