Why is it that some people have more of an affinity towards animals than they do with people? I'd like to ask a shrink about why some people feel that way.

I know, I don't get it. I mean I love animals, have had dogs before and now my wife and I got a cat (I know), and it's sad it is that there are lots of animals being treated cruely.
I just hope that if some of these animal rights group members had a choice the would still choose to save a human before an animal. Sadly, most times I think I would be wrong......

This may help answer the question:

http://www.slate.com/id/2158654?nav=ais

Why People Love Dogs
It's more complicated than you think.
By Jon Katz
Updated Monday, Feb. 12, 2007, at 7:17 AM ET

My friend and fellow dog lover Edie, an occupational therapist in Massachusetts, has been looking for a mate for nearly 10 years. She finally thought she'd found one in Jeff, a nice guy, generous and funny, who teaches high school. They dated for several months, and just as there was talk about a future, it occurred to Edie that Jeff hadn't really bonded with her yellow Lab, Sophie. In fact, as she thought more about it, she wasn't sure Jeff was a dog guy at all.

She confronted him about this at dinner one night, and he confessed, in some anguish, that he didn't love Sophie, didn't love dogs in general, never had.

They broke up the next week. More accurately, she dumped him. "What can I say?" Edie told me, somewhat defensively. "Sophie has been there for me, day in and day out, for years. I can't say the same of men. She's my girl, my baby. Sooner or later, it would have ended."

Having just spent two months on a book tour talking to dog lovers across the country, I can testify that this story isn't unusual. The lesson Edie gleaned, she says, was that she should have asked about Sophie first, not last.

In America, we love our dogs. A lot. So much that we rarely wonder why anymore.

This, perhaps, is why God created academics.

John Archer, a psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire, has been puzzling for some time over why people love their pets. In evolutionary terms, love for dogs and other pets "poses a problem," he writes. Being attached to animals is not, strictly speaking, necessary for human health and welfare. True, studies show that people with pets live a bit longer and have better blood pressure than benighted nonowners, but in the literal sense, we don't really need all those dogs and cats to survive.

Archer's alternative Darwinian theory: Pets manipulate the same instincts and responses that have evolved to facilitate human relationships, "primarily (but not exclusively) those between parent and child."

No wonder Edie ditched Jeff. She was about to marry the evil stepfather, somebody who wasn't crazy about her true child.

Or, to look at it from the opposite direction, Archer suggests, "consider the possibility that pets are, in evolutionary terms, manipulating human responses, that they are the equivalent of social parasites." Social parasites inject themselves into the social systems of other species and thrive there. Dogs are masters at that. They show a range of emotions—love, anxiety, curiosity—and thus trick us into thinking they possess the full range of human feelings.

They dance with joy when we come home, put their heads on our knees and stare longingly into our eyes. Ah, we think, at last, the love and loyalty we so richly deserve and so rarely receive. Over thousands of years of living with humans, dogs have become wily and transfixing sidekicks with the particularly appealing characteristic of being unable to speak. We are therefore free to fill in the blanks with what we need to hear. (What the dog may really be telling us, much of the time, is, "Feed me.")

As Archer dryly puts it, "Continuing features of the interaction with the pet prove satisfying for the owner."

It's a good deal for the pets, too, since we respond by spending lavishly on organic treats and high-quality health care.

Psychologist Brian Hare of Harvard has also studied the human-animal bond and reports that dogs are astonishingly skilled at reading humans' patterns of social behavior, especially behaviors related to food and care. They figure out our moods and what makes us happy, what moves us. Then they act accordingly, and we tell ourselves that they're crazy about us.

"It appears that dogs have evolved specialized skills for reading human social and communicative behavior," Hare concludes, which is why dogs live so much better than moles.

These are interesting theories. Raccoons and squirrels don't show recognizable human emotions, nor do they trigger our nurturing ("She's my baby") impulses. So, they don't (usually) move into our houses, get their photos taken with Santa, or even get names. Thousands of rescue workers aren't standing by to move them lovingly from one home to another.

If the dog's love is just an evolutionary trick, does that diminish it? I don't think so. Dogs have figured out how to insinuate themselves into human society in ways that benefit us both. We get affection and attention. They get the same, plus food, shelter, and protection. To grasp this exchange doesn't trivialize our love, it explains it.

I'm enveloped by dog love, myself. Izzy, a border collie who spent the first four years of his life running along a small square of fencing on a nearby farm, is lying under my desk at the moment, his head resting on my boot.

Rose, my working dog, is curled into a tight ball in the crate to my left. Emma, the newcomer who spent six years inside the same fence as Izzy, prefers the newly re-upholstered antique chair. Plagued with health problems, she likes to be near the wood stove in the winter.

When I stir to make tea, answer the door, or stretch my legs, all three dogs move with me. I see them peering out from behind the kitchen table or pantry door, awaiting instructions, as border collies do. If I return to the computer, they resume their previous positions, with stealth and agility. If I analyzed it coldly, I would admit that they're probably alert to see if an outdoor romp is in the offing, or some sheepherding, or some beef jerky. But I'd rather think they can't bear to let me out of their sight.

Jon Katz is the author of A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life. He can be e-mailed at jdkat3@aol.com.

I'm no shrink but I've had dogs my entire life and they are loyal to no end,they've never lied to me,tried to fock me over,borrowed money and not repaid it,etc. they're called man's best friend for a reason.

Don't get me wrong I don't hate people but I've met more than a few in my days that would rather have me spending time with my dogs.

That was an interesting article. Thanks

My g/f says the same thing. I think I saw it a few times while watching Puppy Bowl 3. Sad.

What didn't break my heart, however, was taking my worthless cat to the pound earlier this year. After taking in his disagreeable homeless ass, he was a royal pain. The final straw was when he pissed on my parent's picture right in front of me.

Because there are so many people who are POS, that's why. Dogs are awesome. I would never be with anyone that wasn't a dog person, period.

One more thing. In a situation like this there is absolutely no excuse for not finding your dog a new home. It takes almost no effort. I've found homes for over 20 lost and abandoned animals. I can't imagine having a great dog and just bringing him to the pound to die. It would take just as much effort to post on craigslist or the newspaper or something. Probably less. Those that just leave their dogs when they move to starve to death should just be put down.

Yea, well if you did that in front of me I'd make sure that every day you looked in the mirror you would remember what a gutless cur you are.

In the end what was the alternative?

Clearly the dog was not as important to that owner as some dogs are to their owners. That doesnt make them bad people. They just have different values.

Not everyone wants to tak a grown dog off someonelses hands.

I live in the country and I would say on a monthly basis a neighbor within one mile from me in any direction has to take care of a dumped dog with a rifle shot. People abandon dogs and cats all the time when they can drive a 45 min drive into the country. I know of two dumped pits that were shot by a farmer neighbor in the last 60 days. My dog stays home and does not roam. Roaming dogs in a calving pasture in this country are called "targets". Cattle and calves are a mans living.

Is it better for the pound to end an unfortunate situation? Or better to dump one alone in the country where it will have to become a problem to survive? Or do the people move with the animal only to have it put down where they move to?

Its too easy to pen this sort of garbage and elicit this emotional out pouring. In the end, the dog was well treated.

It's a quote off a movie, tard.

OK Mr. Country I've lived way out there before and the only dogs we had issues with were wild ones. Naturally you are dealing with abandoned pits, why doesn't that surprise me? :rolleyes: Any stray dog messing with livestock would be shot. That's what were talking about here. Also living way out in the country many have outside dogs that would not make good pets anyway and need to be put down for various reasons. That being said NONE of what you posted had anything to do with this story at all. Even the most hard core here like MO would most likely tell you if he liked a dog enough to make it a house dog he would at least make some effort to try and find it a new home. A good dog is different than any other animal. It will put it's life on the line for you and love you like no other animal in the world. For that reason alone IMO a good dog has earned the right to be treated a little different than all the rest of the animals. In this case it was even worse. He took his kids dog they loved and didn't take any time to find it a good home. It's not hard at all. I could take any decent dog on a street corner here and put up a sign that says free to a good loving home and have the animal placed within and hour then let the kids see it went to a good place. I guess the kids freaking doesn't mean anything to you either. Frankly dealing with them and their legitimate beef is going to be 10x more difficult than it would have been to just place the dog.

I'm not a movie buff. I guess that makes me a tard in your book. That's cool. :)

Exactly!