Dogs Love Peace
May. 7th, 2011 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborahjrossBunches of folks on FB have linked to an article on the use of dogs in war. While I find the idea of teaching a dog to parachute interesting in a bizarre sort of way, I'm disturbed about training dogs for jobs that ultimately hurt people and traumatize the dogs. Just like people, they come home psychologically scarred. If they come home at all.
I think of Oka, our wonderful 10 year old German Shepherd Dog, and how much delight he gets from pleasing his people. He's got the breed-characteristic aloofness with those he doesn't know, but there's a sweetness and trust in whatever he does. He wants so badly to be a good dog. (We tell him often that he is.)
How easy it is to abuse that innocent desire. In almost all circumstances, we people are the ones with the moral agency. It's up to us to discern right action, nonviolent solutions, and compassionate choices. Dogs don't care about popularity or economic status or religious affiliation. Most of them, those that haven't been ruined by poor socialization and worse training, would be just fine in a world that had enough chew toys for everyone. If the organized slaughter of other human beings is wrong, then how much worse is it to use animals whose desire is to please us in that cause? They deserve better of us, and we deserve better of ourselves.
I think of Oka, our wonderful 10 year old German Shepherd Dog, and how much delight he gets from pleasing his people. He's got the breed-characteristic aloofness with those he doesn't know, but there's a sweetness and trust in whatever he does. He wants so badly to be a good dog. (We tell him often that he is.)
How easy it is to abuse that innocent desire. In almost all circumstances, we people are the ones with the moral agency. It's up to us to discern right action, nonviolent solutions, and compassionate choices. Dogs don't care about popularity or economic status or religious affiliation. Most of them, those that haven't been ruined by poor socialization and worse training, would be just fine in a world that had enough chew toys for everyone. If the organized slaughter of other human beings is wrong, then how much worse is it to use animals whose desire is to please us in that cause? They deserve better of us, and we deserve better of ourselves.
