Puppies give people natural feel good chemicals - oxytocin. It's addicting. It may also explain why people 'crave' babies, even if they can't afford or take care of them properly. They get high from cuteness.

Is this phenomenon more common than ignorant wealthy or umc people who spend thousands on purebred puppies, only to abandon them when they don't fit their lifestyle or poop on their floor due to lack of training?

I know a poor family in DC who does this. I think they get the dogs because a relative or something is in crisis and needs someone to watch their animal, and sometimes to make their kids happy. And they get rid of them when the relative's crisis is over or they can't get it together to care for the dog or the landlord figures it out that they have a dog and they get threatened with eviction because pets aren't allowed. The parents in this household have a lot of challenges--mental illness, history of violence, etc.--but I don't think everyone in poverty is like this family.

Another frustrating thing I've noticed that is a "tell" of a family that is not just poor but really struggling to keep things together is beeping smoke alarms. Whether it's physical inability to climb up and change the batteries, lack of executive function to figure out where the batteries are sold and remember to go get them, or just being so out of it or uncomfortable that the beeping doesn't even register that's a bad sign of ability to function. And it's not the cost of the batteries in many of these--it truly is not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Correct. I have 2 discarded hunting dogs right now. Wonderful animals who had been seriously mistreated by their previous owners. I want to find those people and throat punch them.

My dog is a discarded hunting dog too. Purebred Black and Tan coonhound who was bred for coon hunting but dumped.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Correct. I have 2 discarded hunting dogs right now. Wonderful animals who had been seriously mistreated by their previous owners. I want to find those people and throat punch them.

This certainly happens and I am sorry for the dogs. But there are many ethical hunting dog owners out there. It is not wrong to rehome a dog bred to hunt if it is terrible at that job, just as it is not wrong to rehome a shepherd that doesn’t herd if you have sheep, or a livestock guardian dog that kills chickens, or a fox hunter who leaves the pack, or a dog that fails K9 police or therapy training, or a pet that doesn’t like kids or cats.

There are many places who rehome such dogs and a responsible person will try to find a good fit if the dog doesn’t work for them.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Correct. I have 2 discarded hunting dogs right now. Wonderful animals who had been seriously mistreated by their previous owners. I want to find those people and throat punch them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I am from rural Appalachia and grew up in poverty. We had hunting dogs. I think it is funny you think your mutt was “bred” for that purpose. You don’t hunt with mutts and no one “breeds” that kind of cross. They just happen in a culture where many dogs are kept outside. I have one myself. We call her a WV road hound, it is a common joke.

A well bred hunting dog puppy is as expensive as your designer doodles.

I also know no one who rotates through pets like in OP’s post. It might happen sometimes but it is pretty rare.

Go volunteer at a rural shelter. Then get back to me.

I don’t need to. I am actually friends with rural poor people I grew up with and this is not a fair generalization of them. I know many of their pets too. I myself am a huge animal person and have never given a pet away and do give them medical treatment. 2020 being 2020, to the tune of 5 figures-worth, sigh

So because you've never seen a thing- it must not exist. Got it. I've never seen Antarctica but I still believe it's there.

No, because I have seen a thing I know a generalization saying the exact opposite is true is erroneous. People from all walks of life dump animals at the pound. It is not just the “rural poor.” But go on, rich urban elites hate the rural poor for so many reasons already, add Fido to the list. What does it matter anyway at this point.

I really disagree with this thread.

I grew up poor, and we kept animals forever.

The only people I know with a constant rotation of animals are actually quite wealthy. The mom has no capacity to deal with an untrained animal. Once her kids tire of caring for it, she gives it away. Then pretty soon there are two new dogs, or lizards, or a rabbit. It isn't about money, as much as it is a way to deal with what is seen as a problem.

I think when you have little prospects for long term happiness and stability, you seek it out more frequently. I always think of those ads that tout 'You deserve it'. It convinces people to go with short term gratification because things are hard. Hard is obviously relative - but it's such a frequent theme marketed to us. Those with and without resources.

I have a family member who is chronically unemployed, abuses drugs, and lives with his GF and their child. Twice, he has gone to the animal shelter and taken home a dog to a GF who works full-time and doesn’t like animals. Their kid falls in love with the dog and they’re stuck. Even though he is at home all day, he is too lazy to walk the dog and it poops and pees all over the house. GF got fed up and made him return the first dog after a few months. Then a year later, he does this again. Rinse and repeat. Then he gets a guinea pig off Craigslist, returns that after a while, and gets hamsters. Now they have two cats. It’s a revolving door of animals that he doesn’t care for and GF doesn’t want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I am from rural Appalachia and grew up in poverty. We had hunting dogs. I think it is funny you think your mutt was “bred” for that purpose. You don’t hunt with mutts and no one “breeds” that kind of cross. They just happen in a culture where many dogs are kept outside. I have one myself. We call her a WV road hound, it is a common joke.

A well bred hunting dog puppy is as expensive as your designer doodles.

I also know no one who rotates through pets like in OP’s post. It might happen sometimes but it is pretty rare.

Go volunteer at a rural shelter. Then get back to me.

I don’t need to. I am actually friends with rural poor people I grew up with and this is not a fair generalization of them. I know many of their pets too. I myself am a huge animal person and have never given a pet away and do give them medical treatment. 2020 being 2020, to the tune of 5 figures-worth, sigh

So because you've never seen a thing- it must not exist. Got it. I've never seen Antarctica but I still believe it's there.

Housing instability is a big part of it. Moving often with little choice means accepting an apartment that doesn't allow pets or moving it with friends and family who can't take your pet too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Except, I see a lot of this in my workplace from people that are subsequent generation college grads. Lack of EF is pervasive in my opinion.

Committing to something to follow through can be HARD. It takes a degree of maturity, vision, patience and actual work. I have a little collection of stuff that took me a long patient time to do, on my workbench back. One is a shaft-mounted pulley that I had to very carefully cut free from a motor shaft when it was seized on. I screwed it to the wall with 'patience' over it. I was successful because I was diligent and took my time and kept at it. Reminders help. Seeing gradual progress helps.

I don’t think IQ has anything to do with it. There might be correlation issue but not causation. A lot of highly intelligent people lack executive functioning skills, mental health resources, and sufficient finances.

Anonymous wrote:

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

Except, I see a lot of this in my workplace from people that are subsequent generation college grads. Lack of EF is pervasive in my opinion.