People who anthropomorphize (don't you love that word?) their pets.
I am always fully aware that Apollo is a dog. He operates purely on instinct and spur of the moment reaction. His attention span is ridiculously short and his nose rules him like the One Ring. I don't try to reason with him because he is completely unreasonable. The only thing I can do about his school bus frenzy is restrain him so he doesn't get squished.
I also know it's never going to get better, so trying to teach him to think will not have the same result as when I was raising children. Training is not the same as teaching, and reaction control isn't the same thing as conscience and logic. Apollo is a dependent for life who will never have anything resembling common sense.
He doesn't "love" me, he only enjoys the comfort I provide him in the form of physical affection and food. He doesn't think I'm smart or funny or wise or a good person. The good news is that he also doesn't think I have a big butt or am too opinionated.
If he had to choose between me and a stick of pepperoni, he would choose the pepperoni hands down, even if I explained to him that that one stick of pepperoni is it but with me the pepperoni is unlimited. He doesn't understand choices and consequences - all he sees is immediate gratification.
And I'm cool with that. I have humans for human stuff; the dog is my escape from that nonsense. He never ever cares what movie we watch, or if we watch a movie at all. Whatever I want to do is fine. He's never too busy to snuggle or play, nor does he ever get pissed and snub me. We don't argue with each other because he mostly doesn't give a damn.
So it's interesting seeing people who try to relate to their pets as they do humans, with emotion or logic. You'd think they'd be sick of that crap, and interacting with a dog would be a welcome diversion.
I am always fully aware that Apollo is a dog. He operates purely on instinct and spur of the moment reaction. His attention span is ridiculously short and his nose rules him like the One Ring. I don't try to reason with him because he is completely unreasonable. The only thing I can do about his school bus frenzy is restrain him so he doesn't get squished.
I also know it's never going to get better, so trying to teach him to think will not have the same result as when I was raising children. Training is not the same as teaching, and reaction control isn't the same thing as conscience and logic. Apollo is a dependent for life who will never have anything resembling common sense.
He doesn't "love" me, he only enjoys the comfort I provide him in the form of physical affection and food. He doesn't think I'm smart or funny or wise or a good person. The good news is that he also doesn't think I have a big butt or am too opinionated.
If he had to choose between me and a stick of pepperoni, he would choose the pepperoni hands down, even if I explained to him that that one stick of pepperoni is it but with me the pepperoni is unlimited. He doesn't understand choices and consequences - all he sees is immediate gratification.
And I'm cool with that. I have humans for human stuff; the dog is my escape from that nonsense. He never ever cares what movie we watch, or if we watch a movie at all. Whatever I want to do is fine. He's never too busy to snuggle or play, nor does he ever get pissed and snub me. We don't argue with each other because he mostly doesn't give a damn.
So it's interesting seeing people who try to relate to their pets as they do humans, with emotion or logic. You'd think they'd be sick of that crap, and interacting with a dog would be a welcome diversion.
