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As
I’m trying to keep this in alphabetical order I can’t think of a better place
to start than the letter A. A is of course for animals. I have a huge love of
animals and especially those of the cute and fluffy variety. I think I’m
possibly most known for my love of cats. They’re small, cute, and independent.
I see people use their independence as a knock against them but to me it’s a
plus. Dogs are loyal, and that’s to be appreciated, but I do like the
independent thoughts of cats. They’re more like roommates than pets. Except
roommates that don’t pay their share of the rent and just eat all the food they
expect you to give them. So I suppose really they are just like regular
roommates after all. You don’t own a cat, it chooses to live with you. My one
great ambition in life is to actually be a crazy cat man. If no one has heard
of crazy cat men then they will by the time I am finished.
Of
course, despite my love of cats, my favourite animal is actually a variety of
dog. That is the wolf. Or if a wolf isn’t available I’ll take a husky. My true
favourite animals are mythical creatures such as dragons and phoenixes. I can’t
decide between the two so don’t ask me to.
One
subject that comes up often with dogs is the subject of banning particular dog
breeds, especially those with a penchant towards violence such as bulldogs and
boxer dogs. A friend asked me if I think that some breeds of dogs should be
banned. While I do get that there are some dogs that seem to be bred for
fighting and violence, I don't think it's the dog's fault. I don’t think dogs
should be punished for something like this. You don’t punish a child who came
from bad parenting. Well, you do I guess, but you also lay blame upon the
parent for not teaching them better. For the most part, nearly all animals can
be domesticated; they can be taught that certain humans are important to them
and shouldn't be harmed. There may be dogs, and other animals, with a
predisposition towards violence, but I think they can still be taught not to be
like that. I accept, to a degree, that it's very tough to fix a mentally
damaged dog. It's very tough to break the programming that a bad person will
ingrain in to them. I still think however that it can be done. If someone goes
to a cult, and gets out, you don't just put them down because you can't reverse
the indoctrination; you try and do it anyway because they are a human, and
human life is sacred. You try and save them from what happened to them. With a
dog, you can just put it down because it's not like it's a human. I can accept
this to a certain degree. I was there when my dad drowned one of my hamsters
because the poor thing’s leg was broken. You can really perform surgery on a
hamster or correct it so it heals on its own the right way. Hamsters are tiny
little things with fluffy faces. The ordeal still traumatised me to though. Now
I'm older I can appreciate how tough it must have been for my dad too. I really
could never hurt an animal. I would say “unless it’s tasty” but now I’ve
switched to vegetarianism I can’t really say that either. Don’t get me wrong
though; I’m not some kind of major animal rights activist. I want cruelty to
animals to stop and I want more to be done to save them, but I’m not about to
demand the whole world follow me on the path of vegetarianism. Humans are
omnivores and are designed for eating both flora and fauna. I didn’t even
become a vegetarian out of love for animals. I did it to try and lead a
healthier lifestyle. It didn’t really work very well I’m afraid.
While
that was mostly about when it's too late to "save" the animals you
can still stop them from growing up like that and becoming violent. Even a
really tough and angry breed of dog can be a kitten in the right hands. Alsatians,
or German Shephards as they’re also known, can be taught to lick the hand of a
child, but bite off the hand of an intruder. Police dogs are usually quite soft
with their handlers despite their behaviour towards the criminals they’re put
against. Outside of that environment a police dog can be very soft. Should we
say people can't have German Shepherds because they have this predisposition
towards violence? No. The police raise them very well, and they get good
results.
I
really don't think you should ban certain kinds of breeds of dogs and instead you
should ban the people who breed them for fighting from owning them. The sort of
people who breed them just to have them and scare people shouldn’t be allowed
to have them. People who abuse animals have the right to own a pet taken from
them. Why doesn’t messing with their heads and failing to train them count as
animal abuse?
For
those of you who are old enough, or nerdy enough, to remember, it's kind of
like the episode of Pokémon where the Pokémon end up on an island and Ash's
Pokémon actually cooperate and become friends with the Pokémon of Team Rocket.
They say in that episode that there’s no such thing as a bad Pokémon, only a
bad trainer and I really believe the same applies to animals. I also may have
lost any and all credibility I had by referencing Pokémon but that’s neither
here nor there.
The
friend who originally asked me what I thought about banning dog breeds told me I have good points, but doesn't really know
how to feel about it. She's not as big an animal person as me though except for
when it comes to cats.
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As always I need opinions and feedback.
