Something my vet said to me today and has said repeatedly over the course of a few years, got me thinking about the state of western civilization. I’ve long understood that the treatment of animals is a society’s bellwether—an indicator of future developments. From where I stand, I think we’re in deep doodoo. It’s not looking good. There seem to be about four approaches to the animal kingdom out there and only one of them is good. You notice them most in regards to animals that make good household pets, like cats and dogs. They are as follows:
Indifferent irresponsibility
Cruelty
Anthropomorphizing the animal (which is also cruel)
Healthy/balanced
You all know how much I love dogs, and you probably recall the story of my dog, Bob. If not, you can go read about how he turned up on my doorstep one cold night, ill-mannered and difficult, and heart worm positive to boot below:
The discovery that Bob had heart worm could not have come at a worse time. You can read all about that in the post below. Regardless, it literally took us all of one day to decide to proceed with the quite expensive heart worm treatment. He was our responsibility now. He was under our care. Of course we needed to see him right.
Ever since then, I’ve noticed that every time I see his vet, she thanks me over and over for taking care of him. She calls him the luckiest dog in the world. She thanks me for taking care of him at the beginning of the appointment and she thanks me for bringing him in when we leave. At first, all this thanksgiving took me by surprise. I mean, she doesn’t thank me for bringing Argos in.
But then, one day, I suddenly got it.
Argos was wanted. We searched him out and bought him as a puppy. Bob was a stray who showed up unannounced at our door. What’s more, he likely has some pit bull in his genetics—the breed everyone loves to hate on right now. He had behavioral issues. And after all that…he already had the seeds of heart worm disease in his body when he showed up…to be discovered a full year later.
She thanks me because what we did for Bob is something she doesn’t see very often. I think she was shocked we went forward with the treatment. I think she expected us to either put him down or leave him at a shelter.
Indifferent irresponsibility
And the reason I know this about strays is because I know what happens to a lot of puppies in the current culture, too. People get a puppy, don’t do their research on what is required, get in over their heads with completely preventable behavioral issues, then leave the dog at the pound. Or tie them up outside on a short chain where they spend the rest of their short lives without mental stimulation, proper exercise, and very little shelter from the elements (in SC that’s the blistering heat which can easily reach over 100 degrees in a dog house even in the shade.) Or shove them out the window of a moving car. Or leave their elderly and arthritic pet at the pound because “I’m getting a new puppy now.” No, for real. That happens for that reason. And it’s wrong. Animals are not human, but they do feel pain. They look forward to their people coming home. If they’re pets and not wild animals, they rely on us. And they don’t understand why you’d leave them with strangers and never come back.
Now, I understand that sometimes people have to give a dog up for legitimate reasons. I’m not arguing against that. Here’s the main question I’m asking: If many, many people will simply shed a pet like an old sock at the first real sign of adversity, (and overcrowded animal shelters everywhere is a testament to that fact) what else might they be willing to drop the ball on? How many other responsibilities? Their employment? Their relationships? Their kids? I see the children of indifferent parents all around my tiny little community. They show up to our church’s outreach events, often showing only the bare minimum of parental care. I see them while I’m out shopping. The teachers are all talking about it, too. It’s not good. It’s not a stretch to me that the treatment of pets in my community merely indicates the state of many human’s character.
Cruelty
Puppies chucked out the windows of moving cars. I mentioned that under the last heading, but that’s pretty cruel. That happens a lot around here, too. Kittens tied up in plastic bags and tossed out car windows, left to die a slow death of dehydration and starvation unless someone happens upon them. It’s not uncommon.
Then there’s the institutional cruelty. I was startled and ready to vomit while scrolling Twitter and happened upon this report.
Scientists sewing fake “penises” on female dogs to perfect their “gender affirming care” techniques for the delusional among us. These poor dogs were left with these monstrosities sewn to their groins for a full seven months before they were then killed and discarded. I didn’t want to believe this. Surely, it had to be a fevered nightmare from the mind of some Qanon addict. But then I found the link to the study. I’ve included it below. Please don’t click on the link if you’re not fully prepared to see photographic evidence of this atrocity.
In another “experiment” male and female rats were sewn together and then artificially inseminated to prove that “men can give birth.”
And shortly after Fauci’s second round of fame and fortune with Covid (and AIDS prior to that), we heard the sickening news of Fauci’s horrifying experiments on beagles. You can read plenty on that from the White Coat Waste Project.
I understand that some animal testing is necessary in medicine. A very small amount. I do. What makes this so cruel, though, is that it wasn’t necessary. At all.
It is a well-established fact in criminal science that cruelty to animals is linked to criminal behavior. Nearly all mass murderers, serial killers, and school shooters had histories which included torturing animals as children. What does it then say, that our own governments allow such torture to continue in the name of science, using my tax dollars to fund it? Doesn’t look very good to me.
I thought of these poor dogs as I listened to an SC House committee hearing of a bill meant to put an end to “gender affirming care” for children. I wonder if the many, many adults who showed up vilifying that bill knew about the horrific experiments conducted on animals to support that so-called “care.” The so-called “pause,” the puberty blockers that are “completely reversible,” meant to put a child on the inevitable road to just those surgeries and procedures? Do they ever think about the animals we chop up to satisfy our fantasies? If they did, maybe they might “pause” before subjecting their own children to such butchery.
Anthropomorphizing the animal
Sorry for the big word, but it’s the only single word I know for the concept of ascribing human characteristics to those who are not human. Like God or animals, for instance. It’s most glaringly obvious right now in the rise of “Dog Moms” or “pet parents.”
I had the most freakish realization not long ago, while perusing my local TJ Maxx. I realized that the pet section was now larger than the kids section. A full two rows were devoted to dog toys. Another row was devoted to dog beds. Another couple rows was devoted to dog treats and various other dog swag like outfits, poop scoopers, doggy doo bags, scented shampoo, little vests, special bejeweled food bowls that say “Princess” on the front, organic dog chews that cost twenty bucks a pop, and of course, dog toy organization for all those dogs toys.
Why is it all there in a department store? I mean, of course you’d find all of that at a pet store. But why TJ Maxx? Well, because the demand for it is high, and people are snapping it up. Apparently, the demand for pet swag is much higher now than kid swag…which corresponds nicely to our rapidly receding replacement level birth rate.
Yes, infertility is up. That’s part of the problem. But also people are electing to have fewer and fewer children. Many are proudly proclaiming their “DINK” status all over social media right now, and more than that are resolving not to have any kids at all. They’d rather have a cat or a dog as the substitute for the children they have decided not to have. They call them their fur babies. They dress them up in little outfits, push them around in strollers and start social media accounts for them.
Now any single one of these things in isolation wouldn’t really be a problem. (After all, I had an instagram account for a pet bird…because she was a pretty little thing and I enjoyed taking photos of her.) It’s the entire cultural picture with all of these things added together giving me the heebie-jeebies.
For one, it’s cruel to the animal. When you treat an animal like a human, you stop treating it in some vital ways like an animal. Stay with me, here, through this difficult logic. When you stop treating your animal like an animal, you cease to provide that animal with the things it needs to flourish as an animal. Things like exercise (dogs in strollers anyone?), fulfillment, a proper species-specific diet, and a job to do. Things can get so out of hand that these people start accusing dog handlers of abuse when they treat their dogs like…dogs.
Not three days ago, I was made aware of the fact that some people call dog sledding abuse. “These dogs are forced to pull sleds through cold snow for a human’s profit!” The knowledge that working dogs are happy, fulfilled, non-neurotic dogs has been nearly lost to modern humans. If you don’t believe me, go look up a video of any kind of working dog—sheep herding dogs, cattle dogs, sled dogs, guard dogs, livestock guardian dogs—going about their business and relishing it. Then go look at the comments. Or don’t, if you want to keep your faith in humanity.
It’s a form of cruelty, unintentional cruelty, but cruelty nonetheless to anthropomorphize a dog for your personal emotional support. In addition, it reveals something about the human that prefers to call their dog or cat their child while talking down to people who have children. They’d rather have a dog or cat than a child not because they are better people than those who have children, but because it’s easier to keep a dog or a cat than it is to raise a child. It’s easy to love a mute animal, whom you can easily imagine loves you to the moon and back when it looks at you with those sweet puppy eyes. It’s not as easy to raise a child who can eventually tell you exactly what it’s feeling and why you don’t measure up. Raising a child takes high character, self-discipline, thoughtfulness, fortitude, a will of iron, and self-denial.
Furthermore, a society that increasingly values pets over and above having children is disordered and suicidal. It will decline unless both animals and children are put in their proper order.
And so, I can only deduce that a population which anthropomorphizes its pets does not have very good character.
So…that’s not too great.
We are in deep doodoo at several levels.
“But what is the healthy/balanced approach to pets?" you ask.
Healthy/balanced
It’s simple. It is anything that is not the above. Not being indifferent or irresponsible with the animals in your care, not being cruel (inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering on an animal) and not anthropomorphizing them. And underneath all of that, the foundation: God made this world and everything in it.
Therefore the animal kingdom, of which my dogs are a part, belong wholly to God. This means that I am not free to treat my dogs any way I see fit. I must treat them the way God commands.
Our current cultural moment is getting this all very, very wrong, and it does not predict a good future for us. But I don’t wish to leave you all depressed. So, a couple of things to keep in mind:
Indifferent irresponsibility: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matthew 6:26
Cruelty: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Matthew 10:29 “For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.” I Timothy 5:18
Anthropomorphizing animals: Well, for that, we’d have to go into the Biblical theology of the differences between soul, spirit, and mind. And we are quite out of time.
At any rate, it is comforting to me to know that God loves His animals and cares for them. There may be very little we can do about the ways other humans treat animals, but we can do whatever we’re capable of, starting by making sure we have our own heads screwed on straight. Then growing more and more in that area, until all the animals we come into contact with are better for having known us and not worse.
And…if what I think about the treatment of animals being a bellwether of future trends is correct…then all the people we come into contact with will be better and not worse for having known us, as well. May it be so.
That’s all for now. Until next time, folks…
P.S. You still have a chance to read my book, 27, before it’s published! Simply upgrade from a free to paid subscription. I’ll send you a preview copy with a pre-paid return mailing label. And when you send it back, you’ll get the chance to tell me exactly what you thought about it! One reader has already made an excellent suggestion that I am going to implement already. Can’t guarantee I’ll take and use all reader suggestions, but you never know…you might have more influence on the finished product than you realize. ; )