Are your dogs your kids?

[Alma]

I see this a lot. People calling their dogs their babies or their children. I dont. I call em my pup, my pooches, my dogs, my property.

My children are my babies.

I also see MY dogs as MY property. I feed them, care for them and make sure they are healthy and happy. But, thats as far as it goes for me.

Here are a few of the reasons why..

If I had to chose between my dogs and my kids, the kids will win.
If someone had a gun to my childs head and demanded I turn over jesse, shes all theirs.
If a fire broke out, Id grab my kids.
If I was dying, I want to kiss my children, not my dogs.
If Im starving, Im eating my dogs.

I guess the point of this is this..

Which do YOU consider your dogs and why? Remember this IS a debate thread, so what you say you may have to back it up or better explain your opinions.

Thanks!!

 

[apbtmom76]

see they are my four legged kids, but they are MY property. I love them and care for them but I OWN them, do I treat them like property, no not really but I am ok with that.

 

[Galadriel]

NO animal is equal to my children. I will love them, I will care for them, but when push comes to shove, my pets will do without long before my children will. I will do without before my children will. Pets are on the bottom of the important life forms in my house list. They're certainly on the list, but they come last. No one will ever be more important that the beings that are carrying 1/2 my DNA.

 

[Mollie's Nana]

Tough one Alma, I love my kids more than my dogs..... but I "like" my dogs better than my kids most of the time, mainly because they don't talk... well, at least I can't decipher it when they do.

My dogs are my kids now that my human kids are grown, and they haven't asked for the keys, or money, yet, so until they do, they are in great standing with me. Oh, and they think every single word I say is the most awesome, wonderful thing they have ever heard, that's beginning to earn them more and more brownie points.

 

[Budboy88]

my dogs are...get ready for it.....







MY DOGS!!! not kids not family DOGS!

 

[Obed]

My dogs are not my kids... they are my dogs...
hell, I have a kid that I WISHED was not my kid, but he is almost 40 and not really my problem, other than the embarrassment I feel in having had a hand in bringing him into the world, I have offered to pay for his legally changing his last name, but he keeps it just to aggrivate me..:lol:
my family would come before my dogs if it needed to be... that said the dogs get the best care I can give them, I feel obligated to care for anything I own, and I feel, I own my dogs.

 

[APBTlover09]

since my boyfriend and i dont have any kids right now. (someday) i do consider them like my four legged kids, my fur babies, my canine children.

 

[1lila1]

see they are my four legged kids, but they are MY property. I love them and care for them but I OWN them, do I treat them like property, no not really but I am ok with that.

What she said! :sonn_u11:

My dogs (and my cats) are my babies, my furkids, whatever, I call them all sorts of things like that. But I am fully aware that they are dogs. That's actually the reason I love them so much. If they were human kids I wouldn't have them....and I sure as hell wouldn't have this many, lol. You can be a "Mommy" to your dogs but still know they are dogs and treat them accordingly.

I also wanted to say that I firmly believe that my dogs are my property. No, they are not a couch but they are property nonetheless. It doesn't diminish their value to me or turn them into anything less than my wonderful spoiled rotten babies. It just means it's going to be that much harder for anyone to take them away from me, dictate to me how I raise them, or what I do with them.

 

[apbtmom76]

well said Lila

 

[Strakatz]

I was going to leave this one alone because I feel kinda like I'm repeating myself.

My dogs are my kids now since my kids have grown up and flown the coup.

Maybe I'm being a tad weird but my dogs won't leave me.
Their lives are my life and my life is theirs. My dogs are what I hold dear in this world. Maybe that is why I am the way I am. Does that make sense to anyone other than me?

 

[amanda214]

Since I don't have children, and probably won't ever, yes, my canines are my kids

 

[menzie3]

I love my dogs and call them my babies, but I also call my car my baby as well. My kids would come way before my dogs do. If I am told either my kids or dogs... then goodbye dogs. with that said, If I am told my dogs or my car... goodbye car - hello transit bus. LOL

 

[Krista]

Since I don't have children, and probably won't ever, yes, my canines are my kids

same here.

 

[megschristina]

Nope, I refer to mine as "buddy guy". He seems to like that just fine. I didn't give birth to him, and we aren't the same species, so it would seem silly now to call him a human child. I sometimes call him poor baby, but that is more in kidding than anything at his pathetic attempts to look sad and abused.

 

[Jazzy]

I don't know how to answer.

I'm 43 and childless by choice. I don't really like children. I hate to say that, because people start looking at you like you're a closet serial killer. It's just...they are not for me.

So I have a dog; that I spend alot of time with and love very much.

I don't typically call her my "child" or my furkid...because me and kids...well; not something I like to contemplate for any length of time.

But she is definitly mine. Yes, she is my property, and I like that because that gives me the most control over her. Initially I liked the idea of guardianship; but generally I don't have much faith in other people, so to give other people possible control over something I hold so dear...no.

Do I consider the life of my dog to be equal to human life (Oh Lord, hold on to your seats folks)...yes, to a great extent I do. That's not because I consider her my child; that's just how my particular left of center ethical code works. Let's hope no one ever puts a gun to my head and demands the dog in place of my husband or mother...because if I am any judge of my own character...all I would probably do is succeed in getting us all killed. Guess it's just lucky that I am not a very trusting soul so hopefully I can keep the gun holders at bay.

So I still don't know how to answer. I spend alot of time with my dog; because I like her company. My husband and I prefer not to leave her at home, and we do consider her an equal member in making decisions about family activities and how we spend our free time. It's not like we sarcrifice; it's what we want to do and what makes us happy.

So; I don't think I can say that I treat her like a dog in that I give the dog and her needs substantially more consideration than many people do (and way, way more than would someone who thinks of their dog as a dog). But that said, I realize she is a dog, as in another species; and I am very interested in canine behavior, psychology and dog training...so I certainly don't interact with her the way one would interact with a child. Then again, I have very little idea as to how one would interact with a child...and I tend to treat them like short, cognitiviely challenged adults. At least I have a roadmap of how to best interact with and communicate with the dog.

 

[buddysmom]

First of all I do not think anyone needs to be faulted for answering this question in any darn way they please.

Just so long as those on the most "property" end of the spectrum and those on the other "dogs-are-my-children" end of the spectrum treat their dogs properly and humanely.

I am pretty sick of the stray derisive comments I get here just because I wasn't feeling very creative the day I picked my user name and it happens to be [mydogs]mom.

And there was a thread in which I was tormenting some people in reaction to that, saying heck yes I am my dog's mommy, my mom is their gramma, my brother is their uncle, etc.

But I really don't feel exactly that way :lol:

I would say I am somewhere in the middle. I don't have any "real" kids and I might my dogs more because of it.

... but duh of course they are not human children; there are some similarities but a lot more differences.

And, could anyone imagine having their CHILD die on them every 10-15 years? It is hard enough -- gut wrenching -- losing a dog. But I have seen people who lost their children and it literally killed them.

 

[CoolHandJean]

Nope, my dogs are my pets and my property. I care about them and love them, but I see them for what they are.

 

[jillibean87]

I don't know how to answer.

I'm 43 and childless by choice. I don't really like children. I hate to say that, because people start looking at you like you're a closet serial killer. It's just...they are not for me.

HAH. So true.

Well I don't have kids...and don't really plan to anytime soon, so yes, Riley's my baby. Bubba's my dog but Riley's my baby. I recognize that I have a much stronger bond with Riley than most people do with their dogs but I blame that on the trauma of having to give him up for guide dog school and not hearing anything for 7 months about him...talk about heart breaking!

That being said, I don't make my dogs's food, I don't have to be with them all the time. Riley goes to work with me, but he's dog friendly and I work at a daycare. Working at the daycare, we see a variety of people and a varitey of people's relationship with their dogs and I am for sure no where near crazy! :lol:

When I have more time, I'll have to share some stories of people and their dogs and all the weird things they do(like sing to them before bed!)

 

[Michele]

My dog is part of my family. Yes, he's a dog, not a human. I know the difference but he still is part of my family.

 

[YoandO]

I don't have kids because I just don't like them. I love my dogs for what they are fun, loving, loyal companions. They have their faults and so do I but it doesn't matter.