My pet pet peeves (yes, you read that right)

[Shananigans]

Ok animal lovers. I have two pet peeves when it comes to pets. I just don't understand them and am hoping someone can shed some light.

#1- Dressing your animals up. My grandma has a dog that she takes everywhere with her. Along with the dog goes her assortment of little bandanas for her neck, sweaters, booties, etc. Why the heck would you tie a bandana around your dogs neck? I don't understand.

#2- Naming your pets after people. It always disturbs me when I hear people talking about their little "Johnnie" or "Ellie" only to find out they aren't talkin' about the kids, they are talking about their cat or dog. I suppose maybe if you have a dog it might make more sense, but I would feel terrible if I lost my dog and was running through the neighborhood yelling "Ellie, where are you" For one, I wouldn't want to give my neighbors a heart attack thinking I lost my child and two I would feel so bad for all the Ellie's of the neighborhood who were named after a dog or had a dog named after them.

Please help me shed some light on these strange phenomenon.

[tedoll78]

1. Sometimes it's fun to be goofy.

I like dressing my akita in an old t-shirt; he often thinks of himself as a human, so I encourage him. It may be a good thing, it may not be a good thing.

In my own defense, he doesn't go out in public dressed in "people clothes", and he only wears them for about 15 minutes every three months or so. It's just a goofy thing we do, and I think it's cute! No real logical explanation for it. :silly:

Oh, and his name is Jacob Japonica Roux. He just looked like a "Jake" to us. A cajun Akita.. ain't that something?

[Bunny]

2. I have a Christmas costume for my Pug.

She looks so gosh darn goofy, it's always good for some chuckles. Other than that I do not dress up my dogs.

And their names are Patsy and Lily. I don't mind people names, it's better than Spot or Fluffy.

[blackcat77]

3. I agree with you

And I've been a pet-lover forever.

Regarding the clothing, we've never dressed up our dogs, though occasionally we'll tie bandanas around their necks because it's cute and doesn't seem to bother them any. We did have a dog once that absolutely HATED to get her feet wet. We were seriously thinking about getting her some booties so she'd go outside if the grass was wet but sadly that was when her health started to fail and she died soon afterward.

Regarding the names, I always give my animals "interesting" (my wife says "stupid") names. Our current dogs are Woodstock and Monterey and our cat is Twinkie. I've never given any pet a name that's even remotely human-like.

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. Sorry, don't agree.

We're having a huge Halloween party, and I'm buying Fargo a red cape and horns so he can join the fun as "Devil Dog, Hound From Hell." And I've put various Howard Dean stuff on him too. He hasn't put up too much of a fuss.

Our cat's name is Molly, because nothing else really suited her. We chose it because she reminded us of Molly Ivins-- spunky, and a fighter. Besides, the first time I called her that she looked up at me. She chose her own name.

So there. :P

[OnionPatch]

5. Guilty

of having a German Shepherd named Emma. But I didn't name her. She came that way.
She's a big, spastic, pushy dog who I have to yell at quite often. When we first moved in here, our neighbors thought "Emma" must be our little girl and I was a total bitch of a mother, heh heh. I told them later that I would never yell at my kid the way I yell at Emma, even though maybe I should sometimes.

[jfalchion]

6. reply

My mother had a Newfie named Peeve. He was her pet ...

[nuxvomica]

7. I agree but I've never heard of #2 before

Of course it's wrong to name your pets after your children. People are actually doing that?

[Behind the Aegis]

8. names and dress

I have never dressed up my pets. Really have no desire to do so. As for names, well, I go with what is interesting or name them from stories or shows I find interesting. I also use lots of mythological names or names indigenous to the area where they are originally from (IE a Spanish name if from South America). I find naming pets to be fun, but it takes me a long time to name them. I like to see what type of personality they exhibit. But, that's just me.

Brightest Blessings!

[scarlet_owl]

9. I like giving pets people names.

We had fish named Steve, Gorton, and Stuart. Our ferrets have Japanese names, our cat is Olive, and our jird is Farouk. The only pet we have that doesn't have a people name is Tinkerbell the bearded dragon. I do agree about dressing up pets, though.

[politicat]

10. Not that she goes out, but we dress our Siamese in the winter....

She stays home and doesn't embarrass us with her clothing (she gets very motion sick...)
but she does get dressed in the winter.

We live in Colorado. She is a tiny Siamese, 5 pounds and skinny, with that super model metabolism that means she eats more than our overweight boy cat and still weighs 5 pounds. In the winter, she gets cold. (Remember, cats are desert creatures. They evolved for 90 degree days) She's got several warming spots, but she likes to move around, too.

So during the day in the winter, she wears a little thermal shirt. It keeps her warm until her humans get home and let her have a lap or under the blankets or whatever....

It's not for fashion, it's for her health...

However, as far as dogs go? Who knows!!

Pcat

[baldguy]

11. Teaching dogs to kill.

About as morally justifiable as purposefully creating a psychopathic murderer.

[Shananigans]

12. I don't get it...

what does that have to do with the post?

[baldguy]

15. Google "dog fighting"

here are a couple links:

http://www.cityofboston.gov/animalcontrol/fighting.asp

http://www.pet-abuse.com/database/case_photos.php?case_id=1920

[Shananigans]

17. No, I understand what dog fighting is...

but I'm just not sure what it has to do with the topic of dressing animals up like humans and naming them human names...

[AlCzervik]

13. Guilty of the second

guinea pig named Bob.

[skygazer]

14. Interesting

I've never dressed my animals up for amusement but I've put bright bandanas on my dogs during hunting season and I used to put a knitted neck warmer on them when we went snowmobiling. That was for protection.

But as for names, what do you want me to call my animals? Fluffy? Rover? I try to name my dogs easily recognized names (for a dog's ears). I go for one or two syllables and try to get a hard consanant in there (Jake, Dixie, Zena).

Why would anyone feel bad to have the same name as a dog? What's wrong with that? Why is it an insult? I know plenty of dogs I'd be honored to be named for. Better than being called "George" right now!

Oh, and I would presume if you lost your dog, you would be whistling and calling, "Here, Ellie, here girl" which would be unusual in the case of a child.

[ldf]

16. i just didn't want typical smarmy pet names for my cats.

so, they were BOB and Betty.

bob is no longer with us, rest his little soul.

but BETTY STILL RULES!!!!!