Current Events > When you you think about it, training a dog is really quite cruel.

(+) Yeah! (+)

First you drag it away from it's mother at 2 months old regardless of if that's good or bad. You probably don't know if it is and just heard that is the right amount of time and maybe did like 3 Google searches to be sure if you're like me and " really care" and probably don't ever even get a definitive scientific answer.

Secondly you use chemicals, like pee pads or treats ( oh, we'll get into treats) to debase the nature of the dog to instinctively pee to mark its territory and other such things so that you effectively control when the dog can pee or poop. Sometimes this is more literal, as crating uses a dog's instincts to force it hold it in, not wanting to pee and poop where it sleeps.

Next we come to treats, positive reinforcement which is hailed as one of the best, if not the best way to train a dog. You start using delicious things to "bribe" a dog into thinking correctly, right? No. You are literally using something akin to drugs to effectively change and remodel the reward pathways in the dog's brain to think that sitting down is a feature that'll serve itself better evolutionary wise. It believes (we'll also get back to this) that doing all the silly shit you come up with is beneficial for survival. All at the whim of if you've noticed the treat bag, especially when a dog gets older

Now, for the belief aspect. Your dog will do things like run after birds and small animals for a reason, it wants to hunt. It does not think it wants to piss you off by chasing the goose. It does not even believe that it'll be fun, although it does get some sort of adrenal rush and "thrill" if you could call it that.

At the very most the thought process looks something like, "Oooh bird, want fun bird chase, food, leash will hurt and be sad? Ooh bird" sure they might be a bit more self aware than that, but not really by much. It's hard to even put into words considering that a dog is not thinking like a person. There are no words. A myriad of realizations and emotions flood to it's mind and it wants to run, but there's us, the leash holder too.

We are basically rewiring these animals minds to think and act as we please just to look cute or whatever

Idk sometimes I just feel bad for my dog. I wanna be an Irresponsible owner and give all the treats, all the pets, let it chase all the birds, and enjoy being a dog and howling at the moonlight, or whatever a "natural"? Dog in the wild would do.

I wonder if dog's are smarter for living with humans or not.

Do you think dogs in a pack in the wild are just oh so very Cole Porter?

The whole idea of pets is absurd

Domesticating animals was a mistake.

No one can convince me otherwise.

If training a dog is cruel then please train all pitbulls.

itachi15243 posted...

Next we come to treats

prefer the best ones. US made chicken jerky.
given those to her since she was introduced to treats at a young age.

life is pretty cruel to anyone

Nukazie posted...

life is pretty cruel to anyone

all it takes is a goddamn felony.

Wolves train their pups. So outside of human contact they still have to be trained. As for the idea of pet ownership. For dogs besides pugs which I am sorry to say are an affront to nature and everything holy. They are better off.

Cats are better off to. Try are not pets as much as freeloaders who get people to love them with toxic pee .

kingdrake2 posted...

all it takes is a goddamn felony.

Or being born

Naw.

None of that applies to my dogs. Both of them know tricks and are well behaved but I built that behavior up through repetition and using fun activities we could do together.

Theyre non traditional tricks for sure but it blows peoples minds when I tell them to go slide-slide and they both go run up the jungle gym and slide down the slide.

They get treats because they like them not for doing what I say.

As a cat person, I find it kind of odd when people insist that I make their dog perform some trick before I give them a treat.

I mean that, it really odds me out.

Having said that, Cats and Dogs have different wiring.
Dog do like to do certain things to please people...they find it rewarding.

But as a cat person...it just feels weird.

R1masher posted...

The whole idea of pets is absurd

Calm down PETA

This topic is so ridiculous. Most of that can be applied to human babies as well. It's not cruel lol.

When babies are born, they just pee and poop whenever, wherever. They have to be potty trained, to only go in the bathroom. Otherwise it's just messy.

Positive reinforcement works with kids too. It's just psychology. Give them a snack when they do what they're supposed to do.

Same thing with the "beliefs". Kids don't do things just to piss you off. They're curious and when they see something, they just do it, because they don't know any better. So they have to be taught. It's not rewiring brains, it's teaching them what is and isn't okay. Same things with pets. Just because they're animals doesn't mean they should do whatever pops into their minds. They could do something that hurts them, simply because they aren't thinking about that. Running into the street, falling off of something high up, touching something hot, getting lost, etc. There's sound reasoning for teaching these habits and behaviors.

NoxObscuras posted...

This topic is so ridiculous. Most of that can be applied to human babies as well. It's not cruel lol.

When babies are born, they just pee and poop whenever, wherever. They have to be potty trained, to only go in the bathroom. Otherwise it's just messy.

Positive reinforcement works with kids too. It's just psychology. Give them a snack when they do what they're supposed to do.

Same thing with the "beliefs". Kids don't do things just to piss you off. They're curious and when they see something, they just do it, because they don't know any better. So they have to be taught. It's not rewiring brains, it's teaching them what is and isn't okay. Same things with pets. Just because they're animals doesn't mean they should do whatever pops into their minds. They could do something that hurts them, simply because they aren't thinking about that. Running into the street, falling off of something high up, touching something hot, getting lost, etc. There's sound reasoning for teaching these habits and behaviors.

This was mostly a joke topic with all my thoughts of, "I love my dog when can't I just let her be free and happy"

Also, all of that is still quite a bit different betweendogs and small children...

NoxObscuras posted...

Same thing with the "beliefs". Kids don't do things just to piss you off. They're curious and when they see something, they just do it, because they don't know any better. So they have to be taught. It's not rewiring brains, it's teaching them what is and isn't okay. Same things with pets. Just because they're animals doesn't mean they should do whatever pops into their minds. They could do something that hurts them, simply because they aren't thinking about that. Running into the street, falling off of something high up, touching something hot, getting lost, etc. There's sound reasoning for teaching these habits and behaviors.

Difference is, a dog (or cat, or any other animal) is preconditioned to survive on their own, or with a very short care time by their parent.

Ban animal slavery!

Same thing with the "beliefs". Kids don't do things just to piss you off.

The hell they dont.

bigblu89 posted...

Difference is, a dog (or cat, or any other animal) is preconditioned to survive on their own, or with a very short care time by their parent.

Cats are ..but dog were wolves they live in packs that is why they are sad when you leave

divot1338 posted...

The hell they dont.

Hehehe!!!

You're not wrong!