RandumFoxx
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I understand that seems like a pretty direct title for a thread at first glance, but I have a good argument to back it up. And yes, I can already hear the cat people coming at me but there is a difference why canine and feline are not on the same scale. If I come off a bit direct, please bear in mind its more than likely the grief speaking. I've lived with both. This thread also took well over an hour to write, double checking some of what is mentioned below.
In the last month, I lost a 9-year old fur child, Kaiya, to osteosarcoma (or so we believe it was, it came out of nowhere). It's rare in humans, but more common in larger canine breeds. But because the homology of humans and canines is similar, canines serve as a good point of reference for research on such a aggressive cancer.
Firstly, dogs are more dependent on us as parents than cats are. There are similarities between the two. Food, medical visits and shelter, but that's about it. Dogs, like toddlers, require socialization and training within months to function properly later in life. Like humans, they need exercise or become restless. Cats, on the other hand, are more independent as most people know, and don't require the same amount of attention or dedication.
Second, its well established that the canine-human relationship is unique unlike any other. Research has proven that direct eye contact produces the same love hormone in both canines and humans that a mother and a newborn share. Humans as a species have actively embraced, and largely developed, the behavior and nature of many dogs today. Figuratively and literally speaking, you could say our way of life has rubbed off on the canine species overall. In fact, there is research I came across following Kaiya's death that psychologically, the death of our fur children can override that of a human friend or relative, based off the connections we build
Third, the intelligence of the average canine reaches that of a 2-year old human. This can vary by breed, but largely is based on the dogs brain in general. Dogs have capabilities of learning 165 words with a top 20 percentile up to 250, count up to 4-5, and solve certain problems by modeling human behaviors. Additionally, it's been demonstrated that during play, dogs have the capability to deceive both other dogs and humans to get what they want.
There was only one result on Google I could find that remotely put "dogs" and "children" in the same sentence. in that blog, the author attempted to argue dogs cannot be considered children because they are inbred at random. If we are going down that rabbit hole, this is where it gets a bit toasty., None of us are purebred. Unless you came from a culture of arranged marriage, your parents, your very DNA, was at random. Family trees are complex, we have DNA tests because there are many cases where people do not know their mother or father, in a criminal act or not. Soulmates are chosen, for the most part, at random. Some people go decades without knowing who their parents are. So we too, are "bred" at random. We just use different terms.
Now, in fairness the feline brain and nature is largely unexplored, in a large part due to my second reason above. That's not to imply they are stupid or inferior, but as I have demonstrated and done research on to prove, dogs are and should be considered in our society as children. A child is not limited to being a human being. This is why I absolutely loathe the terms "pet" and "owner" used in reference to dogs. "Pet" is mostly a verb and not a noun. "Owner" implies dogs are the same as a car or a house. Do you own your human child? Is there some proof of purchase or transaction, aside from being illegal? We are both animals, just of different subspecies.
Dogs are not like family, not like children, they are quite demonstrably, children. Raise a.fur child from birth the way I have, and you will see what I mean.
In the last month, I lost a 9-year old fur child, Kaiya, to osteosarcoma (or so we believe it was, it came out of nowhere). It's rare in humans, but more common in larger canine breeds. But because the homology of humans and canines is similar, canines serve as a good point of reference for research on such a aggressive cancer.
Firstly, dogs are more dependent on us as parents than cats are. There are similarities between the two. Food, medical visits and shelter, but that's about it. Dogs, like toddlers, require socialization and training within months to function properly later in life. Like humans, they need exercise or become restless. Cats, on the other hand, are more independent as most people know, and don't require the same amount of attention or dedication.
Second, its well established that the canine-human relationship is unique unlike any other. Research has proven that direct eye contact produces the same love hormone in both canines and humans that a mother and a newborn share. Humans as a species have actively embraced, and largely developed, the behavior and nature of many dogs today. Figuratively and literally speaking, you could say our way of life has rubbed off on the canine species overall. In fact, there is research I came across following Kaiya's death that psychologically, the death of our fur children can override that of a human friend or relative, based off the connections we build
Third, the intelligence of the average canine reaches that of a 2-year old human. This can vary by breed, but largely is based on the dogs brain in general. Dogs have capabilities of learning 165 words with a top 20 percentile up to 250, count up to 4-5, and solve certain problems by modeling human behaviors. Additionally, it's been demonstrated that during play, dogs have the capability to deceive both other dogs and humans to get what they want.
There was only one result on Google I could find that remotely put "dogs" and "children" in the same sentence. in that blog, the author attempted to argue dogs cannot be considered children because they are inbred at random. If we are going down that rabbit hole, this is where it gets a bit toasty., None of us are purebred. Unless you came from a culture of arranged marriage, your parents, your very DNA, was at random. Family trees are complex, we have DNA tests because there are many cases where people do not know their mother or father, in a criminal act or not. Soulmates are chosen, for the most part, at random. Some people go decades without knowing who their parents are. So we too, are "bred" at random. We just use different terms.
Now, in fairness the feline brain and nature is largely unexplored, in a large part due to my second reason above. That's not to imply they are stupid or inferior, but as I have demonstrated and done research on to prove, dogs are and should be considered in our society as children. A child is not limited to being a human being. This is why I absolutely loathe the terms "pet" and "owner" used in reference to dogs. "Pet" is mostly a verb and not a noun. "Owner" implies dogs are the same as a car or a house. Do you own your human child? Is there some proof of purchase or transaction, aside from being illegal? We are both animals, just of different subspecies.
Dogs are not like family, not like children, they are quite demonstrably, children. Raise a.fur child from birth the way I have, and you will see what I mean.
