Why are obsessive animal lovers so annoying to me?
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Anonymous
My DH and I have grown children, few cats and a dog. When some of our friends get a new dog they become over the top obsessive with them. When they cancel plans they use the excuse, “we couldn’t get a dog sitter”. My DH and I are like wth! We’re going to dinner not away for the weekend! So my question is why does this drive me and my DH crazy?? We laugh about it but we also can’t comprehend it and we just want to shake them and tell them it’s an animal ffs. I know I know we love animals too but not at this level I guess. 
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Anonymous
| You are not alone. Ten years ago getting a dog sitter for the night sounded absurd. |
Anonymous
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Most pet owners are not like this, OP. I don’t know a single such person, yet almost all the households I know have cats or dogs. I find it mildly irritating when people create threads to whine about a tiny minority of people. |
Anonymous
| I'm thinking that you are upset because you think that they like the dog better than you. That might true, but they might have a dog that really can't be left alone. Perhaps he howls or becomes destructive or pees in the house. Or maybe they're just making it up because they don't want to go out and it has nothing to do with the dog, who knows? |
Anonymous
Nooo this isn’t the case . We could care less and we have lots of friends. It’s just weird . |
Anonymous
LOL. Sure you don't care. |
Anonymous
| The horse owners I know are excessively protective to the point of not allowing kids to touch their horses during a equine based camp. |
Anonymous
| Pets are environmentally irresponsible. |
Anonymous
They’re not even in the same realm of environmentally problematic as humans are, so not sure what your point is. |
Anonymous
Why? Do they drive cars and take airplanes? |
Anonymous
| I get what you're saying, OP. I think that the "my dog is my BABY" attitude is something I think is fairly recent, at least in its intense form. Watch shows like "It's Me or the Dog" and you'll see self-described "pet parents" who treat their dogs as if the dogs actually are children, and who often let the dogs rule the roost in ways that put the actual human children second. Seriously--watch the show and see the very cowed and frightened teen and adult kids taking second place to dogs in some households. Yes, I'm calling out only dog owners because I haven't seen this same level of "pet parent" attitude in my friends with cats, though I'm sure there are similar cat owners out there too. I think the line between pet owners I admire for their dedication and pet owners who are annoying to me is the line where the pet becomes a human, usually a human child, in their minds and in their priorities. |
Anonymous
This would make me wonder if the owners have had bad experiences with kids who did not know how to behave around horses and who scared or even injured the horses, or who got hurt themselves by a frightened horse. There must be more to the story, if these owners are actually participating in a horse-related camp for kids. It's a strange disconnect to participate in a camp like that with your horse yet not allow a child to touch it. Hence my wondering if these owners have had some specific negative experiences. |
Anonymous
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Wait. People get pet sitters to go out to dinner??? Are you for real? This exists? What’s the hourly rate for a date night pet sitter? |
Anonymous
They certainly do ride in both! |
Anonymous
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This reminds me about our Golden. My mom loved that dog more than us. For example. On date night with my dad, mom will cook for the dog and leave instruction for the sitter how much to feed the dog. We got frozen pizza and popcorn.
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