| Jim Sollisch: A pet dog is a pet dog is a pet dog 04/05/2001 By Jim Sollisch I don't like French poodles. They are too yappy for me. Their fur is too kinky, and they give me the impression that their dog food isn't quite up to their standards. Maybe it is just the baggage of their ancestry's preoccupation with food. I don't know. But I do know this: My comments about French poodles don't make me a racist.
And yet there is a growing group of animal rights activists who would disagree. They have made the argument that city ordinances banning certain breeds like pit bulls amount to racial profiling. They also have argued that the concept of pet ownership is the moral equivalent of slavery. In Berkeley, Calif., the City Council, under pressure from animal rights activists, voted to change the language in the city's leash law from "pet owners" to "pet guardians."
The activists actually believe that dogs should have legal rights. Well, I am not about to grant my dog the right to get braces for her overbite or antidepressants when she is feeling a bit dowdy, as a growing number of dog owners are doing for their dogs. Nor will my dog have the right to health insurance, even though 500,000 dogs in America have their own insurance policies. Not when 40 million two-legged Americans still are uninsured.
The anthropomorphizing of dogs is endearing when it is done as an expression of love. It is sickening when it is done as an expression of law. This is a movement utterly without merit. It is the most indulgent side of our American psyche, the side that proclaims, "If I feel something strongly enough, it must be true." Such thinking is partly to blame for our high divorce rate: "I am unhappy; therefore, something must be wrong with you, my spouse." Our pathetic savings rate and growing bankruptcy rate also are expressions of the belief that "I feel unhappy; therefore, I deserve more stuff."
I don't care how much you love your dog; that doesn't make it a person. And I don't care how many pet owners feel the same way you do. And, unfortunately, a lot do. A survey quoted in the New York Times shows that three-quarters of pet owners consider their pets akin to children. And half of all female pet owners rely more on their pets for affection than on their husbands. I feel sorry for those people. Deeply sorry. And profoundly embarrassed for them that they would admit that to a stranger asking them questions on a survey.
But I also am filled with fear. That survey doesn't reflect the beliefs of a small fringe group – it amounts to a majority opinion when you consider that most Americans own pets. And the tendency to regard pets as human does more than degrade humans; it translates into action. In Seattle, two forums were held on the same night, one on dogs in the park and one for citizens to ask questions of finalists for the job of school superintendent. Four times as many people showed up for the dog hearing. And in San Francisco, a $25,000 reward was offered in a child kidnapping case, while at the same time a reward nearly twice that much was offered in a dog killing case.
Which naturally raises a few questions: What if the dog was killed by another dog? Would that dog then be charged with murder? If so, would it be premeditated or a crime of passion? Would the defense argue mental incapacity, since dogs have such low IQs? Yes, treating dogs like humans raises a lot of questions, not the least of which is, "Have we lost our minds?"
Jim Sollisch is a free-lance writer.
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