Why are poor people always in a constant rotation of animals?

[Anonymous]

I grew up poor, in rural Appalachian America. I understand a lot of the behaviors and why people act or live their lives differently than those who are of a different socioeconomic population. I haven’t been able to wrap my finger on why they are constantly looking for puppies. They get a puppy, keep it for 2-3 months and the complain it poops in the house and then 1 week later they are searching for another puppy. It’s a common theme among almost all of my family and friends who are still struggling in that area. I get that being low income would make taking care of a pet more challenging but why the constant cycle. If you are on your 5th puppy in a year and haven’t kept one of them, why keep searching for one?

[Anonymous]

I grew up relatively rural and we constantly had two dogs. When one died, we got a puppy, but we never had more than two at a time

[Anonymous]

I also have to laugh when people here say horses are a mark of rich people, even in rural areas. I knew several people on Medicaid who had horses out back in our rural area.

Also, the dog thing--a lot of people get dogs for hunting season, then abandon them, or they abandon or give away puppies that are bad hunters. That's how we adopted our puppy.

[Anonymous]

This thread is gross already.

always
constantly

Try to generalize less.

[Anonymous]

Is this a euphemism for “babies”?

Poor people want something to love and to love them back

[Anonymous]

Yo op thats the same for the richer people here. Why do you think there are so many unwanted pitbulls? Some people just want a dog as an accessory because its trendy and they're stupid.

[Anonymous]

They don’t think dogs are anything better than a paper towel, they use it and throw it away.

[Anonymous]

why are they constantly rotating between homes and partners? General overall instability is my guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also have to laugh when people here say horses are a mark of rich people, even in rural areas. I knew several people on Medicaid who had horses out back in our rural area.

Also, the dog thing--a lot of people get dogs for hunting season, then abandon them, or they abandon or give away puppies that are bad hunters. That's how we adopted our puppy.

Yeah OP did you grow up in a hunting area? People are always looking for a puppy who is a great hunter that they can breed/sell. Unfortunately a lot are bad/mediocre hunters and get abandoned in this effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why are they constantly rotating between homes and partners? General overall instability is my guess.

OP here, this is my best guess as well. I guess I see pets as being different than material things such a car, house, tv etc. and would I think it would be hard to constantly bring in a new animal with no attachment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why are they constantly rotating between homes and partners? General overall instability is my guess.

OP here, this is my best guess as well. I guess I see pets as being different than material things such a car, house, tv etc. and would I think it would be hard to constantly bring in a new animal with no attachment.

But people relationships tend to be unstable for a lot of poor people growing up--parents in and out of the picture, parents' partners, friend groups if you move often, people at work if you change jobs often....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also have to laugh when people here say horses are a mark of rich people, even in rural areas. I knew several people on Medicaid who had horses out back in our rural area.

Also, the dog thing--a lot of people get dogs for hunting season, then abandon them, or they abandon or give away puppies that are bad hunters. That's how we adopted our puppy.

Haha, that’s how we got our dog.

He was clearly bred to be some kind of hunting dog (border collie-greyhound-pointer mix) but he must’ve sucked at it. Clearly exposed to abuse/trauma, then abandoned and wound up in a shelter.

He’s a good dog, but clearly haunted by experiences of his first 18 months before we got him.

[Anonymous]

I don't know OP. I can only assume they don't understand that they have to actually train a puppy themselves.

[Anonymous]

Because, like it or not, generational poverty is associated with lack of executive functioning skills, since parents for whatever reason (abuse, low IQ, drugs, health issues or simply having no one to teach them this) have not developed these skills and cannot pass then along to their children.

Executive functioning, more than cognitive thinking skills, and assuming an IQ in the average range, is what make people successful. It's how to start a task (planning and timing), how to continue a task (persistence), and follow-through (resilience during setbacks). Everything in life requires executive functioning skills. Training and keeping a puppy or another animal requires a lot of observational and executive functioning skills.

So people who lack impulse control and seek immediate gratification, who are generally either light on their IQ, or more frequently light in executive functioning, will take on appealing burdens then be tempted to abandon them because follow-through is an effort and skill that is sometimes beyond them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Because, like it or not, generational poverty is associated with lack of executive functioning skills, since parents for whatever reason (abuse, low IQ, drugs, health issues or simply having no one to teach them this) have not developed these skills and cannot pass then along to their children.

Executive functioning, more than cognitive thinking skills, and assuming an IQ in the average range, is what make people successful. It's how to start a task (planning and timing), how to continue a task (persistence), and follow-through (resilience during setbacks). Everything in life requires executive functioning skills. Training and keeping a puppy or another animal requires a lot of observational and executive functioning skills.

So people who lack impulse control and seek immediate gratification, who are generally either light on their IQ, or more frequently light in executive functioning, will take on appealing burdens then be tempted to abandon them because follow-through is an effort and skill that is sometimes beyond them.

Man this rings true