This made me stop and reflect for a bit. I've always wanted a pet, but I've never considered the complexities and complications that come with taking care of one. Sure, I could adopt one from the shelter and avoid "buying" specific breeds but the thought that I will never know what's best for my dog scares me.
The more I embark on this doggysey of mine, the more I question whether one should ever 'own' a 'pet'. Anindita Bhadra, who runs the Dog Lab at IISER Kolkata, simply won't tolerate the idea of having pets. As someone who's been studying free-ranging dogs (aka street dogs) for decades now, and probably knows the most about what a dog's 'natural' life looks like, such a decision comes with a ton of weight. Matt Lakeman has an essay titled Against Pet Ownership - https://mattlakeman.org/2020/03/21/against-dog-ownership/ - which is hard to read as someone who thinks dogs are wonderful but also very much on point.
Today, one of my housemates flippantly mentioned how if you can't find a girlfriend, you should get a dog instead, because he'll unconditionally love you. It really captures everything wrong with our current dynamic - the casual bringing-into existence of a living, breathing being to hold hostage as a collared captive against our own incompleteness.
Sigh. All that being said, I still think humans and dogs can be convivial companions. And adopting a dog from a shelter is definitely giving them a better life that they would have otherwise. But I no longer have the childhood innocence of puppies being unalloyed goodness. That bubble pops real quick once your garden has a puppy-sized grave.
This made me stop and reflect for a bit. I've always wanted a pet, but I've never considered the complexities and complications that come with taking care of one. Sure, I could adopt one from the shelter and avoid "buying" specific breeds but the thought that I will never know what's best for my dog scares me.
The more I embark on this doggysey of mine, the more I question whether one should ever 'own' a 'pet'. Anindita Bhadra, who runs the Dog Lab at IISER Kolkata, simply won't tolerate the idea of having pets. As someone who's been studying free-ranging dogs (aka street dogs) for decades now, and probably knows the most about what a dog's 'natural' life looks like, such a decision comes with a ton of weight. Matt Lakeman has an essay titled Against Pet Ownership - https://mattlakeman.org/2020/03/21/against-dog-ownership/ - which is hard to read as someone who thinks dogs are wonderful but also very much on point.
Today, one of my housemates flippantly mentioned how if you can't find a girlfriend, you should get a dog instead, because he'll unconditionally love you. It really captures everything wrong with our current dynamic - the casual bringing-into existence of a living, breathing being to hold hostage as a collared captive against our own incompleteness.
Sigh. All that being said, I still think humans and dogs can be convivial companions. And adopting a dog from a shelter is definitely giving them a better life that they would have otherwise. But I no longer have the childhood innocence of puppies being unalloyed goodness. That bubble pops real quick once your garden has a puppy-sized grave.