You know you're a loser when: Humans seeing Pets as Partners

[Boges]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/18/pets-as-partners-growing-number-of-young-singles-treat-cats-and-dogs-like-replacement-girlfriends-and-boyfriends/

Mr. Petrone is in his fourth year of a Doctor of Chiropractic program at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto. He works out religiously, is the school’s students’ council president and spends eight to 10 hours a day at school. Finding a girlfriend is not a priority.

“At this point in my life, I’m working more on myself,” Mr. Petrone says. “I do a lot of things to better myself as a person and as a professional.”

Pets have been openly discussed for a generation as surrogate “fur babies.” Now, experts — and marketers — see an emerging trend among young professionals: pets as partners.

For many people focused on building their careers like Mr. Petrone, 25, pets are becoming replacement girlfriends and boyfriends, and the proof is in the statistics. According to a Canadian Pet Market Outlook report, about half of Canadian households without children own pets. Free from family-related expenses, their disposable income buoys Canada’s growing pet industry, valued at $6.6-billion in 2013 and expected to reach $8.3-billion by 2018, the report states.

I don't care if this guy is going to be a doctor, he's failed as a human.

Pets are great but people who see animals at par with humans are disgraceful people. It's OK to love your animal. They're great companions. But when people buy better food for their dogs than some humans eats, we know priorities are out of whack.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Boges

[cybercoma]

The whole replacement boyfriends/girlfriends thing is insulting and moronic commentary from the author. Your opinion that he has failed as a human is equally pathetic and judgmental. Some people don't want to create families or have children. Everyone is entitled to live their life as they choose without jerks saying they've failed as human beings.

[Boges]

The whole replacement boyfriends/girlfriends thing is insulting and moronic commentary from the author. Your opinion that he has failed as a human is equally pathetic and judgmental. Some people don't want to create families or have children. Everyone is entitled to live their life as they choose without jerks saying they've failed as human beings.

Yes and I'm entitled to judge them harshly.

Especially when they allow a newspaper to publish their out of whack priorities.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Boges

[Black Dog]

Pets are great but people who see animals at par with humans are disgraceful people. It's OK to love your animal. They're great companions. But when people buy better food for their dogs than some humans eats, we know priorities are out of whack.

I feel the same way about people who collect and restore classic cars, build elaborate model train sets, buy antiques, spend money on fancy clothes, amass large record collections and so and so forth. Basically, if you have a hobby and spend any of your disposable income not improving humanity, you are a worthless piece of garbage who should probably die.

Am I doing this right?

[Boges]

I feel the same way about people who collect and restore classic cars, build elaborate model train sets, buy antiques, spend money on fancy clothes, amass large record collections and so and so forth. Basically, if you have a hobby and spend any of your disposable income not improving humanity, you are a worthless piece of garbage who should probably die.

Am I doing this right?

It's all a matter of scale. Everyone has a hobby. But when you see an animal as replacement for a romantic relationship there's something wrong with that. Dogs aren't meant to be "partners".

It also bleeps with the Dog's psyche. If you've ever watched Ceasar Milan you find that the people with the worst behaved dogs are the ones who tend to treat them as contemporaries.

[Black Dog]

It's all a matter of scale. Everyone has a hobby. But when you see an animal as replacement for a romantic relationship there's something wrong with that. Dogs aren't meant to be "partners".

As long as we're not talking about bestiality, what's wrong with that exactly?

[Boges]

As long as we're not talking about bestiality, what's wrong with that exactly?

I think it's unhealthy for a human to feel that much meaning in their relationship in an animal. I also believe it's harmful to the animal to treat them that way.

But yes, they have the constitutional right to blow all their money on their dog, even though the dog doesn't care about all the money you blow on it.

I'm more interested to discuss why people now feel the need to create such meaningful relationships with animals. It's certainly something new in the evolution of the western human.

[Black Dog]

I think it's unhealthy for a human to feel that much meaning in their relationship in an animal. I also believe it's harmful to the animal to treat them that way.

But yes, they have the constitutional right to blow all their money on their dog, even though the dog doesn't care about all the money you blow on it.

I'm more interested to discuss why people now feel the need to create such meaningful relationships with animals. It's certainly something new in the evolution of the western human.

Because it's harder than ever to form meaningful relationships with people.

[Boges]

Because it's harder than ever to form meaningful relationships with people.

I think that's something worth exploring.

This theory is especially perplexing at Cat people, Why do you love a cat that at best doesn't care about you and at worst would prefer if you died so you they can eat you.

[Black Dog]

I think that's something worth exploring.

This theory is especially perplexing at Cat people, Why do you love a cat that at best doesn't care about you and at worst would prefer if you died so you they can eat you.

Cats are aloof, but they care in their own way. They're just not 100 per cent dependent on people like dogs. My cat greets me happily at the door every day when I come home from work.

Dogs I don't get. It's like having a toddler that never grows up.

[Boges]

Cats are aloof, but they care in their own way. They're just not 100 per cent dependent on people like dogs. My cat greets me happily at the door every day when I come home from work.

Dogs I don't get. It's like having a toddler that never grows up.

Sweet a Cats v Dogs argument.

Dogs are pack animals, they require the relationship to feel normal. Which is why it's imperative on the owner to ensure the dogs knows it's place in the pack. The people like the ones highlighted in the OP don't seem to understand that dogs don't do well when they're almost seen as equals.

I don't ever want a cat cause it seems like they want to live outside on their own and just have a stable food source. But there enough cats around me that I'd imagine it would get in fights. I think an indoor cat would be sad, plus you have to declaw it in order to ensure it doesn't ruin your furniture.

[Black Dog]

Sweet a Cats v Dogs argument.

Dogs are pack animals, they require the relationship to feel normal. Which is why it's imperative on the owner to ensure the dogs knows it's place in the pack. The people like the ones highlighted in the OP don't seem to understand that dogs don't do well when they're almost seen as equals.

I don't ever want a cat cause it seems like they want to live outside on their own and just have a stable food source. But there enough cats around me that I'd imagine it would get in fights. I think an indoor cat would be sad, plus you have to declaw it in order to ensure it doesn't ruin your furniture.

Different pet strokes for different pet folks.

Anyway, to the question of why people turn to pets over people, I think it's simply harder these days to actually interact with human beings in a meaningful way. In a way, our modern way of living is as alien to us as a pet's life like an indoor cat or a pampered dog.

[Mighty AC]

I am more bothered by the fact that people refer to chiropractors as doctors.

[Boges]

I am more bothered by the fact that people refer to chiropractors as doctors.

Sorry, my bad. Chiro's are scam artists.

[Moonlight Graham]

Single pet owners aren't replacing romantic relationships with a pet, they're replacing the companionship from those relationships with a pet. When you live by yourself you can get lonely, and if you don't have time or want for a girlfriend/boyfriend to keep you company then a pet is a lower-maintenance and often more stable solution. Never met anyone who treated their pet like a boyfriend or girlfriend.

[eyeball]

I think it's unhealthy for a human to feel that much meaning in their relationship in an animal. I also believe it's harmful to the animal to treat them that way.

Notwithstanding going over the top, there seems to be evidence that caring for a pet may add longevity to a senior's life - apparently it has something to do with the feeling of being needed and sustaining a sense of purpose.

Edited July 22, 2014 by eyeball

[Boges]

Notwithstanding going over the top, there seems to be evidence that caring for a pet may add longevity to a senior's life - apparently it has something to do with the feeling of being needed and sustaining a sense of purpose.

I'm not saying owning a pet is a bad thing. I own a pet. But using them to replace human companionship is rather unhealthy IMHO.

[-1=e^ipi]

You think this is bad? Wait until companies start developing sex robots.

Many people already have robotic or digital pets.

[Bonam]

You think this is bad? Wait until companies start developing sex robots.

These are already available.

[Mighty AC]

Sex robots are great! Until the inevitable day when you come home early to find it banging the Roomba.

[overthere]

Different pet strokes for different pet folks.

Anyway, to the question of why people turn to pets over people, I think it's simply harder these days to actually interact with human beings in a meaningful way. In a way, our modern way of living is as alien to us as a pet's life like an indoor cat or a pampered dog.

A persons ability or lack thereof to form a bond with another person has nothing to do with 'these days'. There have been misfits and loners forever.

No, I think people turn to replacing human relationships with an animal relationship is that it is so much easier in every way. Pets don't talk back, or argue, or insist on some small measure of respect and best of all you can behave horribly to them and they still come back for more- as long as you feed them. Human relationships can be like that too but it is so much more work.

[cybercoma]

Sex robots are great! Until the inevitable day when you come home early to find it banging the Roomba.

I don't think the debasement of our culture is a laughing matter.

[Wilber]

You have to interact personally with an animal, you can't just text them. To them your phone is just a chew toy. That's a good reason for people to have one all by its self.

[Argus]

I don't care if this guy is going to be a doctor, he's failed as a human.

He's at least better than all those men who take sex dolls as their partners. Heck, in Japan they even dress them up and take them to picnics in the park.

[Argus]

These are already available.

I was talking with a guy about this yesterday. Once they take the top line generation of sex dolls now, the ones that look and feel so realistic and cost thousands of dollars, and put that skin on a robot with a programmable interface, ie, one with a personality matrix set to match its owner, there'll be a hell of a lot less people hooking up with other people.

Now something like that is a long way off, many decades, probably. But you KNOW it's going to get here. And tons of men and women will simply stop dating and stop looking for a mate because they'll already have the perfect guy/girl.