Man's Best Friend

If dogs are man’s best friends, why do we own them?  In America as in other Western cultures, people consider it normal to own animals, and to not just friendships, but explicitly master-servant relationships.  Pet owners put collars on their dogs and cats and microchips in their other animals to identify them as property, and try to teach them to do their bidding.

If the animal is well-treated and happy, I personally do not have a problem with it.  A cat neither understands nor feels bound to a human’s idea of hierarchy.  But it is interesting to consider the human’s perspective.  Many Americans talk to their pets like they do to babies.  This is a far cry from the respect and even reverence that other cultures show animals.  Do Americans simply lack respect for the animal kingdom, or do they need to feel dominant over others, and find animals convenient targets?  Most pets are completely submissive, and a “good” dog does its master’s bidding.  We judge the worth of an animal based on its obedience.  

Americans also have interesting attitudes about the role of animals in society.  They use them for work, for food, for clothing, and for companionship, there is a divide when it comes to “pet” animals.  Chickens are commonly considered food.  Cats are commonly considered pets.  People with chickens for pets are “weird” and few people could stand the idea of sautéed kitten.  In other cultures many more animals are considered edible.  China, for instance, eats dogs.  But Americans feel attached to their pets and do not feel comfortable thinking about any member of the specie being eaten or skinned.

Americans may feel superior to animals, but they are compassionate towards “pet” animals.  Animal torture is actually a crime, even though pets are legally property.  People clip the wings of free-spirited birds, but they keep them fed and cleaned and loved.  While Americans might not always know what is best for their animals, and may not always be within their rights to decide, they do try to do what is right by them.