Poor, Poor Pie Boy
I recently read about a woman who was on the Dr. Phil show discussing her relationship with her little dog, Pie Boy, whom she seriously considers her son, not her dog (seriously!). My jaw dropped as I read the description of a dog whose feet have never touched the ground outside, who wears desinger clothes, who sleeps in the bed while his owner sleeps on the floor, who is sheltered from violent TV shows and even has his dog treats chewed for him by his “mom”.
The woman’s ex-roommate was also on the show to explain that he finally got fed up with Pie Boy’s aggression toward him and had to move out. Everyone involved used the word spoiled, even the owner who defended her right to spoil the dog.
I saw a dog being anything but spoiled. This is a dog who is being deprived of the joys of running through the grass, digging in the dirt, rolling in smelly stuff and playing with other doggy friends. Poor Pie Boy doesn’t even get the satisfaction of chewing up crunchy treats! Instead of being spoiled, it seems to me that Pie Boy is being held hostage by his owner and living as a slave to her emotional problems.
What if he were the child that his owner sees him as? Wouldn’t we consider it at least somewhat abusive for a child to never be allowed to play outside? How would we feel about a child who had his food chewed up for him and was so sheltered from the world that he didn’t know how to interact with others? Would we consider a child fortunate, spoiled or privileged to spend every waking moment as his mother’s emotional crutch?
It’s funny to me that anytime a dog is given something that people consider a human thing…certain foods, space on the furniture, clothing, etc…we label this as spoiling the dog. I wonder how a dogs see this.
Wouldn’t canine indulgence be more like never having to take a bath, being allowed to chew whatever you like, having a yard full of super-stinky stuff to roll in, having lots of doggy butts to sniff and being with your humans every minute of every day?
Do we really believe that dogs enjoy wearing clothes? Even if a dog does like his cute sweater or his snow boots, does he really know (or care) who he's wearing? Does a Poodle care about his haircut? Do male dogs pay attention to who has the biggest studded collar?
I don’t think so. I think that what is often looked at as spoiling the dog is really about using a dog for the indulgence of the human. The woman in this story is not doing things FOR her dog, but rather doing things TO her dog for her own satisfaction.
I’m all for spoiling dogs!! Let them dig! Let them get dirty! Let them bark! Let them sleep on the bed! Let them have tons of chewy toys and huge bones! Let them have a social life full of doggy butts and lots of mounting! Let them be taught gently how to live IN the human world without becoming human!
Let them be free of clothing made to make humans happy, the constraints of doggy strollers and carrying bags, and the unfair role of substitute human child! Let them be dogs!
It is only we humans who would think that being a dog is somehow less than being human. The sad truth is that Pie Boy has not been elevated to human status, he has been demoted and deprived of canine bliss.
Pie Boy's story: http://drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/4217/?id=4217&null=null
