Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. Those of you who jumped in to talk about "irresponsible pet owners" are exactly who I am talking about.

I think we should divide this forum into two: people who like pets and want to share advice and joy about them. And people who dislike pets and their owners and want to complain about them.

To each their own.

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. Those of you who jumped in to talk about "irresponsible pet owners" are exactly who I am talking about.

I think we should divide this forum into two: people who like pets and want to share advice and joy about them. And people who dislike pets and their owners and want to complain about them.

To each their own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP!

I will say, though, that it’s not just the Pets forum. There are people being intentionally cruel all over DCUM.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been told I’m unlovable and pathetic because I have two dogs and no children.

I’m not overly sensitive about such comments (because I know they come from unhappiness), but I will avoid DCUM if I’m feeling especially vulnerable.

[NP]

So true. This forum has value for me, and at times, I've gotten good advice or, even more valuable, felt seen and understood about something I don't discuss with people in real life. But like you, PP, my skin isn't that thick, so I have to stay away when I'm feeling down. Sometimes I struggle with the moderation, where simple questions or statements that the moderator doesn't agree with are removed, while truly hurtful posts, like telling pet lovers that they are pathetic losers or blaming parents for their kids' mental health struggles, are deemed to be acceptable. The pet forum is unexpectedly cruel and has been for some time. Maybe it's just one or two prolific posters? I hope so.

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP!

I will say, though, that it’s not just the Pets forum. There are people being intentionally cruel all over DCUM.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been told I’m unlovable and pathetic because I have two dogs and no children.

I’m not overly sensitive about such comments (because I know they come from unhappiness), but I will avoid DCUM if I’m feeling especially vulnerable.

[NP]

Anonymous wrote:I go to recent topics, and that is the only reason I would comment on the Pet forum.

I like pets. I don't like people who think they can ignore rules when it comes to pets.

Please don't bring your dog to the tot lot that has a sign that says no dogs allowed.
Please don't take your dog out without a leash. An unleashed dog chased my kids when they were bike riding and one fell and was hurt. The owner of the animal said my dogs don't bite. I told her anything with teeth can and will bite.
Please don't bring your pet to a restaurant, grocery store or anything else with food. Yuck!
Please clean up after your dog and not allow it to urinate on someone else's flowers.
Please don't allow your dog to sniff me or my children. I don't want it to get hurt if someone kicks it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I on the Pet forum quite a lot and 99% of posters have pets and love animals.

So perhaps you read Pet forum posts from Recent Topics when they trend *because* they're controversial, like Pitt threads. In which case, yes, you'll find posters who do not understand or care for animals.

Also, among animal lovers, we can disagree on many methods of training or different lifestyles.

I really disagree. I actually avoid this forum (usually) because it's so hateful and ignorant, so much of the time. I can't even count how many threads there have been over the years that I've accidentally seen, of people fantasizing about kicking dogs, shooting dogs, bashing dogs with hammers. People have - apparently sincerely - talked about killing their family dogs because some idiotic DNA test tells them there's a little pit bull in that beautiful pup they've loved, and just post after post after post encouraging them to do it. It's horrifying, the things that are regular conversation here.

I think that the pets forum is like this because normal people who love animals have basically been driven out, by a culture of violence and idiocy. Now it's just the hateful people talking to each other all the time, because who else would want to get involved.

It's sort of like how the politics forum has gotten, too, to be honest - a few MAGA heads have so overwhelmed the conversation that they are driving out the regular people who just want to talk about stuff.

I wish it were more people like you and me - who love animals, and want to talk about the normal parts of owning and living with animals. I'd love this forum if so.

Either you must not have a good grasp of statistics, and for you one post that mentions violence against dogs is enough to not come back for weeks, or... we're on two different DCUMs! Because 99% of the threads on here do not mention anything like the bolded. And yes, most posts in the Politics Forum are not MAGA posts. You notice them because they shock you, as they are intended to. The goal is to shut down the conversation and drive you away. Don't fall for it.

When you blow these things out of proportion, you end up with a skewed version of reality, and that's a slippery slope, my friend.

Yes, I find it shocking - and appalling - how many anti-pet posts there are in the pets forum. I don't know what the percentage is, but they are common enough that I don't want to participate in the forum - unless I accidentally stumble into some thread (like this one). It's common enough to notice trends, like the relentless anti-pit bull nonsense, and the people fantasizing about harming dogs, and the tedious posts complaining that dogs exist in public life. We could have a whole other conversation about the people who insist that women with pets are damaged people who are harming society, but those are generally not in this forum (I don't think).

I'm glad this isn't everyone's experience of the pets. It's present enough here for me to generally bow out of being any part of this. Truly, it hurts my heart to see so many of these ignorant, violent, hateful posts. How casually people describe hating their pets, hurting other people's pets, all of it.

And I don't fault Jeff for running his website in the way he likes, that is also profitable and manageable to him. But he allows the anti-dog stuff to grow and grow and it's pretty terrible - for me. Glad it's not that way for you.

Anonymous wrote:Just because people think pet owner should be responsible for their animal and considerate of others, does not mean they hate pates. Come on OP, can you really not see the difference?

Anonymous wrote:
You sound incredibly hypersensitive. Ultimately, it's not good, because it means you leave the public sphere of debate and let others fight your battles for you. So, not very helpful to the causes you want to support, hmm?

Anonymous wrote:People are responding to topics they see on Recent Topics.