Yeah I guess you're right. I live in the country and almost everybody has a dog. I never thought something as benign as pet ownership would get absorbed into the internet discourse but here we are.

I don't think the kind of dog ownership you're talking about is the same as the one in the article.

It's about dogs as a replacement for children which anecdotally I have definitely seen happening. I've met more than one married couple who are proud about not wanting kids but own a dog and treat it to an absurd degree like one would treat a toddler including but not limited to talking to / about it like one would to their child (imagine the kind of coworker who loves to talk your ear off to you about every single little detail of their child's life, complete with photos, but with a dog), cooking for and feeding it like a child (not just putting a dog bowl out on the floor), hiring babysitters when they go out, taking it to daycare centers for dogs, planning activities for/around it, doting on it like a child (dressing it up, carting it around in a baby stroller on walks) etc. etc.

It's a world of a difference from simply owning and taking care of a dog. It's a perpetual simulation of human childcare projected onto a dog that never "grows up" and without all the struggles and ugly situations that might happen with a real toddler ie tantrums.

I 100% don't think dogs should be allowed in grocery stores or restaurants or frankly most businesses outside of pet stores.

> I've met more than one married couple who are proud about not wanting kids but own a dog and treat it to an absurd degree like one would treat a toddler.

My first reaction to this kind of comment is "mind your own business." People are way too up in other peoples personal affairs these days. I'm not saying this to you specifically, you were just clarifying the discussion, but in general.

On a personal level? Sure, I don't think anyone should be calling out, naming and shaming, or drawing attention to abnormal behavior that specific individuals have. Nobody should target a real human being doing something weird but otherwise harmless to others with the intention of causing them distress.

But on a societal level I think it's absolutely okay to look around and say, "Hey, have you noticed the <insert something out of the ordinary> behavior that's starting to happen? What's causing that? How did it become normalized? Is that something we should readily accept?"

Such cases can absolutely be symptoms of larger societal problems and we shouldn't brush them away without examining them first.

I think you are right, and it would be wonderful if people could mind their own business more.

I can't speak for the original commentator, but my own experience is one of trying to mind my own business and having this experience thrust upon me by people who are very excited about their pets.

I guess I'd like people to keep their pets to themselves the way I keep my kids to myself: if someone asks I'm generally happy to talk about them, otherwise I don't volunteer information.

Even though I think having pets satisfies in many ways that having children would, but with far less work and a lot less liability, I don't think this can be divided along the political lines that you suggested.

Urban / rural people like to keep dogs. Poor / rich people like keeping dogs. Liberal / conservative people like keeping dogs. Young / old people like keeping dogs.