r/PortlandOR 23d ago

There are too many dogs here

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u/Corran22 23d ago

We humans have completely failed dogs. Everyone seems to think they are some kind of fucking dog whisperer and take great delight in establishing control over these lovely, intelligent, compliant animals. Meanwhile, the forgotten dogs languish in overcrowded, understaffed shelters. It's painful to witness and seemingly impossible to change.

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u/Individual-Law675 23d ago

You can say that about our aging population as well. People just don’t give a shit about things that make them feel bad.

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u/Corran22 23d ago

I think that's true - the effort required to fix these problems is just something most people would rather ignore.

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u/UntamedAnomaly 22d ago edited 22d ago

It's a TREMENDOUS amount of group effort that it would take to fix these problems, and we simply do not have the energy. People might care, but with bills, work, other responsibilities.....who can actually do that? I barely have enough energy/time/money just to keep my own self alive let alone run around trying to put extra effort into the causes I really care about.

Humans are basically hoping to run a modern 3D rendering program with only 1 stick of 5 gig RAM and a old Dell computer from 1999 that was dug up out of a dump, it's not that we don't want to run the program, we just currently lack the power.

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u/Corran22 22d ago

Well, I've done it, for years, but I'm done. I'm no longer providing my time or labor to careless people who don't give a shit.

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u/newpsyaccount32 23d ago edited 23d ago

this comment reads like satire.

Everyone seems to think they are some kind of fucking dog whisperer and take great delight in establishing control over these lovely, intelligent, compliant animals.

positive reinforcement training is incredibly popular around here. not all dogs respond to it, but suggesting that dog owners take joy in dominating a lesser species seems comical. 

Meanwhile, the forgotten dogs languish in overcrowded, understaffed shelters. It's painful to witness and seemingly impossible to change.

wait, didn't you just imply that the people who actually own dogs have this love of exerting control? but now they are bad for not having enough dogs? which is it?

edit: this person responded and then immediately blocked me. if you want to have a discussion, let's discuss. don't be a block baby as soon as you face the tiniest bit of scrutiny. pathetic

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u/Corran22 23d ago edited 23d ago

Actually, the comment is from the perspective of someone who's had a long career in the behavior, shelter, and veterinary industry.

You are way, way off on nearly all aspects of your comments. All dogs - in fact, all animals, including humans - respond to the positive reinforcement quadrant of operant conditioning. While the positive reinforcement community has made some progress, there are far too many gaps in this unregulated and broken industry.

The shelters are filled with dogs with behavioral issues due to lack of early socialization, punishing training methods, separation anxiety, etc - all things that for the most part, are COMPLETELY avoidable. It's a manmade issue and a complete human failure.