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“LIFE AS A DOG: HUMAN ACTION”

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“LIFE AS A DOG: HUMAN ACTION”

The topic of animal care certainly hits home for me. This could be because my childhood dog, Heidi, practically raised me. Whenever my parents couldn’t find me, they would eventually come across my two-year-old self cuddling with Heidi as she took care of me inside her dog house like I was one of her pups. We created a bond that is comparable to that of human relationships. This could be one of the reasons why I am now a vegetarian. I thought it ignorant to love one animal so much and then support the abuse of another, prior to it ending up as dinner. The whole scenario seems barbaric, which is why I can relate to what Jonathan Safran Foer is saying in his essay, “My Life as a Dog.” His central argument is that dogs provide people with much happiness, just from the fact they are behaving the way dogs do: “Why does it make one feel, in the best sense of the word, human?” But he also refers to the paradox of loving one animal, and then supporting the torture of another before eating it.[“Write my essay for me?” Get help here.]

His paper starts by raising a political issue: Off-leash dog hours at New York parks. He argues that dogs that are allowed to be off-leash are happier. This in turn makes people happier. And it also decreases the number of dog attacks on New York streets, 90 per cent he said of a report. In turn, this allows us to be happy watching dogs behaving as we think dogs should (not hurting people). The very fact that dog park times is such a major issue is indication of how much people love and care about their pooches. But why are dogs treated differently than the animals people eat?

According to Foer, it is because we become more distant from animals when we grow older.  While this can be true, I would argue that the typical child may be petting their precious pooch while eating a hot dog. But children clearly don’t have as much of an ability to see past the taste of the hot dog, so they can be forgiven. However, adults do the same thing. Foer assumes that the distance adults have to animals is the reason most don’t have a problem eating them. But many adult dog owners aren’t vegetarian. So this leads me to believe that most people can be ignorant and extremely shallow. Ignorant because they don’t take the time to see how their meat is produced – which is quite disgusting when looking at the treatment of animals; and shallow because we choose not to eat the cute animals. Many would argue that pigs are cute, but they lack a soft coat of fur to place your hand around. Pigs suffer from a clumsy body. Perhaps if their snouts were softer and less wet looking… and their bodies not quite so hard, then maybe they would be allowed to cohabitate with people. Staying with the pig example: While they are considered more intelligent than many dogs, it is their appearance that places them next to sunny-side-up eggs with hash browns and toast on a breakfast plate. Who knows, maybe dog would taste better smoked, salted and sliced into bits. Oh, but they’re too cute, remember?              < Click Essay Writer to order your essay >

Dogs devote themselves to their owners. They have the emotional capacity to do so, which would leave a person to assume that an animal such as a pig would have the same ability. And if a pig can care, it has emotions just like a dog. How could a person in good conscience allow the abuse and then slaughter of animals that have the same emotional capability as the dogs that we love so much? In order for us to move forward as a people, we need to take a closer look at the actions we have on our environment. And this is something Foer touches on as well. It is not only our treatment of animals, but our treatment of nature as a whole that says who we are as a people, and a change in attitude could make us feel more human, without the help of dogs. It is almost as if we have to show love and care to select animals to make up for our abuse of others.

As Foer explains, dogs are important to making many people feel “human.” But what is lacking for us to need dogs to make us feel that way? After all, we are human. There won’t be many who will deny that fact. Perhaps if we were more rational in the way we approach our actions – such as choosing to not eat meat – we will find ourselves closer to being human, thus filling the void that dogs now provide to many people. [Need an essay writing service? Find help here.]

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By Hanna Robinson

Hanna has won numerous writing awards. She specializes in academic writing, copywriting, business plans and resumes. After graduating from the Comosun College's journalism program, she went on to work at community newspapers throughout Atlantic Canada, before embarking on her freelancing journey.

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