Reply #29: Tell Her That Like Every Group,

[Unperson 309]

AR folks come in all stripes. Some AR (animal Rights) people are against pet ownership, but the VAST majority of AR supporters DO have companion animals!

The difference between a "pet" and a "companion" is that a pet is property and considered so by the owner. A companion animal is considered a friend and family member with rights inherent in its station as companion.

Our own cat, Chamisa, is a companion. The rights she has include the right to warmth, shelter, comfort, good healthy food, play, undisturbed sleep and health care. IOW, she has the right to be as free as she can considering that she is a domesticated animal living with humans. Her responsibilies are to behave, play gently with us, to remain within the house and generally to be a "good kitty". We will enable her to fulfil these responsibilities with such tools as gentle distraction and modification. If she bits our fingers in play, we will not punish her, but instead offer a toy and the words "No bite!" If these methods do not work, we may NOT punish her (it would do no good, anyway) but we may, in defense of ourselves, gently scruff her and place her in her room or on the floor until she calms down.

She, as a companion and as a sentient (although not sapient) being, has lesser capacity to comprehend and understand than would a dog or another human, therefore her requirements are not nerarly so strict as ours are. After all... WE know better! IOW, if I were to cross the boundaries and actually pull her tail (accidentally or on purpose, as she cannot gauge intent as we can) she is well within HER rights to bite me! I've got no kick coming! I pulled her tail!

Our responsibilities are to provide her with shelter, comfort, good food, company, play, but most of all, SAFETY. What that means is that we, who know more than she does about nutrition, do not give in to her appetites and give her poor quality food, or g to her desire to go outside and let her out. She might WANT Tender Vittles, she might WANT to stay out all night, and (when she's old enough) to have a zillion kittens, but these things would NOT work to her long term benefit. So these things are forbidden.

Who enforces her rights? Well, we do, according to AR principals. It is not an easy thing to do, sometimes.

We had a companion dog that we had rescued from an abusive situation. He was a 7 lb terrier mix who had been left in a backyard, unneutered, badly socialized, untrained... we had him for a year and we rehabilitated him. We took him to obedience classes, worked with him exhaustively, had him altered, etc. Then he met his "forever friend"! The dog fell paws over tail in love and the man did, also. It was instataneous and total, with the dog languishing by the front door, nost to the crack when the guy left him... and the guy phoning us in tears asking if we would consider giving the little guy to him! NEVER in my life had I seen such a thing!

We gave our sweet little dog to him, along with all his touys, bed, foode, etc, and they are ecstatic together. Why did we do it? Not to "get rid of" the dog! We LOVED him! We gave him to his new friend because AS a companion animal, the dog had a RIGHT to be loved! he actually was ABLE to choose his human guardian! That being the case, and we, understanding his wishes as he was able to communicate them, made the decision to relinquish our sweet little guy to his new friend.

We still miss him terribly, but we know we did the right thing. His new human sends us pictures of him. They are inseparable, going to work together, etc, and he is glowing with joy.

THAT is the principaled stance of many AR folk.

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