But canonically, the Futurama dog waited like 10 minutes! Some time travel shenanigans overwrote the reality where he spends his life waiting. In the final timeline he got to live a few more happy years with his master 🥲
Do people who perpetuate this stereotype have cats? Because it seems like they don’t. My cat is psyched and affectionate as hell when I come home. All of my cats have been the same way.
I think a lot of people just don't know how to read cats as well as dogs. Cats can be very aloof but still very loving and most people just know how to read body language from dogs more than cats. Knowing that when a cat gives you that narrow eyed glare and slow blinking is actually a sign of affection is a good indicator that cats are just weird little things.
Especially if we've been away longer our cat will just go nuts for us for days. Even just coming home from work she'll come say hello and maybe give us a couple roll-arounds to greet us. I get that it's not quite as obvious as dogs though and previous cats I've had were not so affective.
When my wife comes home from work, I tell her that the dogs are glad she is back from being gone forever again because she's gone forever and is never coming back every day.
I just adopted a dog that was breeding stock in a puppy mill. She bonded to me right away but has major separation anxiety. Even if I'm gone for 5 minutes, she goes nuts when I get back and acts like I've been gone for months.
I read somewhere that on average 1 day of our life equates to 1 week for our beloved pups. I think of this everytime I'm feeling too lazy to engage with mine.
Fair point and I understand it. I simply meant that it is another data point that moves my emotions when I think about dogs general experience, like this comic highlights. Maybe too esoteric of a share lol.
I try to remember that every day and cherish and spend time with her so that when it's finally time for her to move on, I have no regrets that I could have done more.
I agree that it is creepy and subservient... but it is also entirely accurate. The dog is a pet. It is entirely reliant on the owner, and it is only allowed to do what the owner lets it do. It eats when the owner tells it to. It goes outside only when the owner says so. It probably even had its genitals removed at the request of the owner.
So yeah, 'master' is an appropriate word here.
I find it a bit uncomfortable too, which is why I don't have a pet. But from what I can tell, dogs are generally fine with this arrangement. Most dogs seem to like it this way.
The issue is sapience, not sentience. To imply that even a stupid human, a sapient being, is in any way comparable to the intelligence of a dog is offensive
I like dogs. I dislike anthropomorphizing pets and unduly imbuing them with humanity. I take issue with modern dog culture that does just that, teaching people that dogs are "family" rather than encouraging normal and healthy human-pet relationships. You can and should love your dog, but like a dog, not like it was your human child.
I see the comic as an attempt to translate the existential stress a dog "feels" to the human experience, especially it's intensity.
Because even with no language, no consciousness as humans have it, dogs do experience intensity you could measure in cortisol levels, heartbeat, eye movement etc.
The comic is useful for those who are interested in translating that to human experience. A communicative form that works well is narrative framing. It gives your empathy a correspondant in your conscious thinking.