mac wanted me to stop indoor chores and go work in the yard so he could ride his scooter. He's been watching tv and playing ds for 4 hours straight, so I declined and said he need to do something to help around the house. He's packed a backpack and gone out the front door. If I go check to soon and he is there he will likely go further, if he has really gone off, the longer I wait the less likely we'll know where he is, if he's out front still and I wait too long I'll get the whole "you don't even care if I left" yelling hissy fit. I hate the no-win.

I know... but YAPPY means most likely it doesn't have humans who know how to keep it happy, one way or another.

I understand what Dana is saying, but I agree with Theo on this. And, sadly, not all people who have dogs love them, or even care for them with the minimum attention required. I wish it were axiomatic that owning a dog meant the owners loved it, but it's not. Leaving a dog outside for hours isn't necessarily neglect, but then again, it could be. And then the dog could be barking because it's cold, it's hungry, it's hurt, whatever. Such an owner might love their dog (or say that they do), but they could still use some education at the very least.

Ack, msbelle, I hate that things get this way for you and mac.

All right, it is time to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS! Wish me luck.

Even if an owner doesn't love it, I wouldn't wish for an eagle to eat it anymore than I'd wish an eagle would eat a cat that pees on a bed.

Even if an owner doesn't love it, I wouldn't wish for an eagle to eat it anymore than I'd wish an eagle would eat a cat that pees on a bed.

I took that as the same kind of hyperbole we all use from time to time when we're annoyed, and saying we wish certain politicians (or whoever) would die bloody. I don't think Erin really wants an eagle to eat the dog. I think she was annoyed that it barks all the time, that's all.

I know. That's why I am commenting on other's comments, correlating the value of the doggie's life with being loved by somebody.

Please, people make jokes all the time about drop-kicking small dogs, or wishing they'd die. I don't think it's funny. I don't care if the dog's happy or not. I don't care if the people can't take care of it. It's not funny, it upsets me, and I wish you guys wouldn't do it.

Even if an owner doesn't love it, I wouldn't wish for an eagle to eat it anymore than I'd wish an eagle would eat a cat that pees on a bed.

I'm vehemently opposed to animal abuse of any sort. No question.

But I imagine if I were woken up or kept awake by a barking dog or a peeing cat, I might think/express my anger/displeasure in a hyperbolic manner that I don't actually mean but it's how I'm processing my anger/displeasure at the time. Better to say, "I wish an eagle would eat that dog!" than to go next door and scream at it or throw things at it.

Erin has never seemed like an animal abuser to me, and yes, this is a situation of how well do you know someone's character, but I'm pretty sure she didn't actually literally mean she wanted the yappy dog to die in any way much less be eaten by an eagle.

Sometimes people express their frustration in hyperbolic speech. I tend to fall more on the end of accepting that as just that -- an expression of frustration, not a true wish for harm to befall an animal/person.

I understand that other people's tolerances for such things are different than mine. And I guess, based on that, I'm not even sure why I'm posting this, except to say I don't think Erin is advocating animal abuse/harm.

That's why I am commenting on other's comments, correlating the value of the doggie's life with being loved by somebody.

If you mean my first comment, where I agreed with Theo and then expanded, I did not correlate the value of an animal's life with whether it was loved by someone.

I said that ownership of an animal does not automatically means that the owner loves that animal, unfortunately.

t edit Or I might be misunderstanding what you mean, in which case I'm sorry.