Is A Dog’s Discomfort Worth More Than A Humans?

Photo by Valentin Kremer on Unsplash

I ask this because I’m a member of one of those neighborhood apps we’ll call Neighborz. It’s where people who live in the same community get together to discuss suspicious activity in the neighborhood, trade the numbers of people who provide services like cleaning, plumbing, and home repairs, and where very, very bored people post very, very random messages like I’m sick of the president before quickly deleting. Because…why, just why open that can of worms, and open yourself up to that feedback even though I do it regularly when I write, but I digress…

I’ve noticed there are a lot of posts about dogs. Here are some examples —

My dog is missing. (totally understandable...)

I found this dog./Is it yours? (of course…)

I’m housing a stray I found — is anyone interested? (That’s nice, but I didn’t need all the updates…)

I saw a dog here, there, or everywhere. (I, too, wish loose dogs weren’t out and about, but I don’t need to know the whereabouts of every single one…)

One day, a day when we had the coldest weather we’ve had all winter, someone posted there’d been a man begging near the interstate with his dog.

The post looked something like this —