#443 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday August 30)
Photo courtesy of @servicedogsinc
“A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living” –Virginia Woolf
Good morning,
SERVICE DOGS AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DOGS
There are way too many people claiming dogs as “service animals.” Real service animals perform valuable services for those with handicaps, particularly those who are blind. People need their service animals to do their jobs attentively, without distraction. When other, untrained, dogs are in their midst, the service dogs are at risk of not being able to perform their jobs effectively, putting their masters at risk. The distraction of so many dogs now hovering in airports and on planes is causing harm to others.
Buying a vest on the Internet that labels a dog as a service dog, when one is not handicapped, is even worse than parking in a handicapped space. It’s immoral.
Slightly less offensive is the question of “emotional support dogs.” This broad category has been abused by countless people who just want to take their pets on a plane without paying for an extra seat or putting the pet in the cargo hold. The effect on service dogs is equally unnerving. While I’m sure people feel more emotionally whole with Rex by their side, I can’t help but believe that it is not a necessity but a convenience. How did these people travel in the 90s or 00s, when emotional support animals were not the latest thing?
Archie keeps me around for emotional support—not the other way around.
A DOG IS A DOG
I’m not alone in my fondness for dogs but not for their anthropomorphization and deification, as Peter Bain weighs in:
“Kudos to your K-9 perspective. I believe there is a direct connection between the off-leash phenomenon you note and the misplaced emotional connection between owner and pet (which you also note). Millicent and I regularly hike through the wilds of Lake Roland here in Baltimore, where it is explicitly the rule that dogs are to be kept on leash. And yet, we consistently encounter liberated pooches blithely roaming the paths, their owners contentedly meandering a good 500 yards or more removed. Their response to us as we pass is consistently, ‘Oh, he’s so friendly!’ Uh, no, he is neither friendly nor unfriendly; he is a dog. Yet it is clear to us that the owner has, likely unconsciously, anthropomorphized their little Buddy and imbued him with personality traits that justify treating him differently from “other” animals. Now, to be honest, there is no question in my mind that my late and beloved Norwich terrier, Ranger, was a special being: courageous, intrepid, fearless, loyal, and deserving of love. I am sure he and Archie would have been friends. But … he was a dog. He was kept on leash when required and slept in a crate. Pets play an entirely useful role in a family dynamic. However, to use them as a substitute for the meaning and fulfillment that can come from the beauty of a complex human relationship is to lose an entire dimension from one’s life.”
Meanwhile, Adam Torson makes light of this and also poses a philosophical question:
“…if humans have souls and dogs don't, that seems like an argument for saving the dog. The ensouled human presumably lives on in the afterlife, and perhaps enjoys the rewards of an eternal paradise (though I know that's not the Jewish tradition, exactly). The poor dog only has one go at a sublime life on this planet, and you would cut it short for some wretched human that's going to live on in any case. :)
I'm being silly, of course, but it does speak to an interesting philosophical question: Does the prospect of an immortal soul give life meaning, or rob it of meaning? But perhaps that's too heavy on a light musing day. :)”
DOGS AS SUBSTITUTES FOR CHILDREN
Some people allege that having pets is as good as having children. I do not judge these people, as they are making a personal choice that is perfectly acceptable (as is the decision have neither pets nor children).
But let’s think about the roles children and dogs play. We have dogs who are supposed to be loyal every day, happy every day, and never ever change. Children, on the other hand, sometimes are happy and sometimes not. If they don’t change, that’s a problem. We expect them to change and evolve—and sometimes disobey or rebel. The uncertainty of childrearing and the evolution of the human being into something remarkable and unique is one of life’s greatest gifts.
Archie will never evolve. He will always run to greet me, tail wagging. But he will never make me proud.
Have a great day,
Glenn
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