+186 Homeless people should not have pet dogs, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If they cant feed themselves, how can they feed another animal. so yea i agree.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Homeless doesn't mean poor. I know people that make good money and they're homeless. They always sleeps at friends and relatives houses, or some other place. Somewhere different every single night, so that they doesn't wear out their welcome. They live pretty well overall. Why should they spend several hundred a month on a crappy apartment they'd only sleep in? None of them care for misc junk, eat out every single meal, and hang out in public places. Only catch is that they have to be real good at making and keeping friends, so that people don't mind letting them stay.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

So the animal should have to live like that too? Don't be stupid, a homeless person that can't afford their own home don't deserve a pet.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Who says they can't afford a house? Or that they can't afford dog food? Animals live outside you know, all they really need is food. If the homeless guy can afford the food, let him have the dog. It's not like owning a house makes someone a good pet owner.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Who the fuck are you to say who deserves what? Do you even know how people end up homeless. Foreclosure, robbery, corrupt government agencies, and inflation. Beyond their control. So people who have their homes unfairly taken from them don't deserve any companionship. You are a horrible unfeeling person who doesn't deserve the air your breathing. While you sit typing in your computer chair, staring at the glowing monitor, people who have been cast from their rightful homes lie in the street racing towards death completely alone. As if you would care anyway.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yes Yes it does. Animals live outside. Pets? No pets live inside. If they can afford a house or at least a place to rent why are they homeless? The gist of it is if your in that situation it's irresponsible to have a pet. You don't have the resources to keep it safe, warm, feed or can provide it with medical attention if necessary.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

A pet is an animal. Have you ever seen a dog house? It's a wooden box that a dog (that lives outside) can take shelter in when it rains, or whatever other reason the dog wants to go in to it. I believe I covered the whole homeless with money thing in the second post on this (Four posts above this atm), so... read that. Also, what does a dog really need to be warm? Fur? An appropriate climate? That all depends on the dog and location in question. Dog food is not expensive, and believe it or not, a great deal of money can be made by begging on the streets, easily enough to feed one person and a dog. Most dogs have their shots before they are bought, pre-owned and released dogs generally have the shots as well. If they were born in the wild that might be different. When it comes to certain other kinds of medical care, people with homes can't always afford it either. Many pets are euthanized because the treatments to save them would be several thousand dollars.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First off, bullshit. food is much more inexpensive then a place to live. Animals had to survive on their OWN at first, so what makes you think that one can't survive with a homeless man. What did they all just DIE until we came along? Plus they don't even own the pet. It has to follow them, they can't just MAKE it stay! so what, if a dog likes them, they're supposed put as much effort as possible into making sure it can't follow them? Make it hate them? What huh? Did animals just sit on the earth waiting for hospitals? Most people who have homes can't afford the treatments either they just euthanize them.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If your begging on a street then you shouldn't have a dog!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Why? A good beggar can make $100,000 a year.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You focus too much on the non-important parts of this issue. If he can see to the needs of the dog, why can't he keep it as a pet? A person who can't take care of a pet, shouldn't have a pet. But it's possible to take care of a dog as a homeless person. Maybe not a cat, or a bird, or a lizard, but a dog? A dog can easily be taken care of.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If you yell this at people begging on the street instead of offering help, you don't deserve to live.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Why would I be yelling that at a beggar? That's just rude. Unlike you I'm not immature.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I'm immature!? you're the ignorant douche who despite all the evidence against your ridiculous argument continues to claim that homeless men should not be allowed to love an animal who follows it by it's own will, can feed itself, and gives the man companionship. You're biased, prejudice, and don't like to admit that you're wrong even if logic dictates you are. All over this comments section I've seen people who disagree completely tear apart and debunk all your arguments, yet you still refuse to admit you're wrong. You just sit there defending a cruel and inhumane statement. You are the definition of immature.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well you told me I don't deserve to live, and I'm an ignorant douche, so yeah you're pretty immature. Also if I'm so wrong then why is this post positron 146?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

*positive

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First off, stating a fact isn't immature. So I will reiterate. You don't deserve the life you've been given, and you are indeed an ignorant douche. Also, the reason it's positive is because to my disdain, this website is also filled with people who don't stop to think deeper into a subject with an open mind, and instead just follow the popular opinion, without considering homeless people's feelings. Instead, like you, they see them them as a section lower then the the lowest of society, who regardless of being unjustly expelled from their home by circumstances beyond their control. You're basically saying "well the bank/insurance company/robbery forced you out of your house. You can't have a dog, even though that wasn't your fault"

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How is it a fact I don't deserve the life I have been given?? Yes you are immature.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because you don't respect the right of other human beings. You don't treat others as equals, but instead section your treatment by social status. This post is a perfect example. You say that a people forced out of their home to live on the streets shouldn't have pet dogs, regardless of the fact that they need companionship, and that the dogs could easily survive on their own if they wanted. You don't listen to reason, you think that because someone is homeless that makes them irresponsible, and instead of offering the slightest hint of help or sympathy, you prattle on about what you think they shouldn't be allowed to have.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They don't need companionship. They need a job! They need a way to be able to support them self before they have to support a dog. A domestic dog can't take care of it self! Why should I offer them sympathy or support? I'm going to offer the dog support because it can't get a job! It cant just buy itself food. It can't pay for its vet pills! If it gets hit by a car do you think it's just gonna march it's way to a vets office like a human can to an ER? I respect people if they deserve it. I WILL NOT RESPECT AN ANIMAL ABUSER!!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You don't think they want one!? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job with ONE dirty scraggly outfit, NO way to shower, and NO RESUME!? A majority of them TRY! Nobody wants to help is the problem. Also, they don't need to support something that can support itself no problem. They can hunt for their food, even in cities, and they have ridiculously strong stomachs. Hell there are dog pounds for a reason. Also, if a dog isn't a pet in a house then it is NOT DOMESTIC. Homeless= does not have a house! How do you think dogs kept themselves healthy without us. In fact, most dogs that are hit in car crashes are those that belong to people with HOMES who are too negligent to care for their dog. Also, homeless men are not animal abusers. If the dog doesn't like the situation is can just run away. They have free will you know.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

A good beggar making $100,000 a year has a home. What I'm talking about is the homeless bum outside your local Jack in the Box with a sign that says they just need money for dog food while they have a lethargic dog curled up by their feet half dead. Your not getting it. A BUM IS NOT RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO HAVE A PET!!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

An irresponsible person is not responsible enough to have a pet. Your example refers to an irresponsible person. It has nothing to do with whether or not they have a home. People with homes can be bad pet owners too. A person with $100,000 doesn't have to have a home either. Having a home is a choice. What do you do at home that you can't picture doing anywhere else? Sleep? Remove that from the equation, you've found other places to sleep. For all your junk? You don't need it, throw it away. Mail? Get A PO BOX. Shower? Do it at the gym after you work out. Cooking? Eat out. It's not difficult to live well, and comfortably without a home.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How the hell does homeless equate to irresponsible? A LARGE majority of homeless people are homeless due to circumstances they could not control. As in, it's NOT THEIR FAULT.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hmmmm have a dry spot for the animal when it rains, a safe spot for it when its hurt. A person without a house has none of these things! Have you ever lived homeless? I bet its not as glamorous or carefree as you seem to think it is.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First off, a house (of your own) is not the only dry spot in the world where you can take shelter from rain. Second, what qualifies as a safe spot when it gets hurt? A veterinarians office? Or are you referring to some kind of minor (and magical) injury that requires a roof of your very own to heal? Also, how is the animal getting hurt exactly? Do your pets get spontaneous and unavoidable injuries? Mine never have. Third, yes I have been homeless (though I'm not right now), and no it's not care free, neither is owning and maintaining a home. It's just a different set of problems, and all of them are problems with solutions.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As a person who lives in a place where homeless people are always around, I have to agree with this post. The homeless people that I see who have dogs just take them around on a rope, are often really cruel when the dog even tugs on the rope, are dangerously underfed, and sometimes are even missing limbs.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(Well am I?): Where the hell do you live?! Anyway though, that's the person, not the lack of a house. Pets should be taken away from any person who can't care for them, I'm saying a house does not play in to that for a dog. Dogs are tough animals, and well suited to moving around a lot. Here's a good example, truckers. Many truckers don't keep a house or an apartment (meaning they are homeless) since they are always on the road driving from city to city (thus even if they had one they'd never be there). I've known truckers who travel with dogs. They provide good company, and the driver and dog can carry food, and sleep in the trucks cab. They just get out, stretch, and play at rest stops along the way. The dogs are happy and healthy.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(Well am I?): I have seen many people with no home and a dog. Dog follows them, there is no rope. If the rope is too tight, dog chokes and dies. Too loose, it escapes. Homeless man can't catch it cause he doesn't have the energy. Explain how you see a homeless man with a dog on a rope that is alive.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah, that's exactly what I see! I have not once seen a homeless person with a healthy, happy looking animal. I don't know what anonymous poster is seeing (a bum making $100,000 annual income WTF?) But homeless people do not take good care of their pets. As for Injuries? Well let's see, dog being ran over by a car(seen it). A homeless person trying their dog to a traffic cone and dog runs away with cone still attached gets stuck under a truck dog nearly chokes it self to death (seen it). Starving because today just wasn't a good day for begging. Those are not 'magical injuries" Anyway don't say " that's the person, not the lack of a house." I can not be the only one that sees the abuse these animals go though.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

" that's the person, not the lack of a house." I said it. Cause it's TRUE!! What are you saying, that having no house makes you an animal abuser? I've seen worse happen to a dog in captivity of someone with a home. Ever seen or heard of a homeless man who shot a dog with a gun? ON purpose.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Again, where the hell do you people live where this kind of shit happens?! I've seen many abused animals, but almost never with a homeless person. I've known many homeless people, and almost all of them too smart for that kind of shit. Where I live homeless people who can take care of their dogs get to keep them. There was actually a big controversy a couple years back, where a homeless guy's healthy, happy dog (That he'd had for quite a while) was taken away from him (by people of like mind as you) and there were city wide cries of outrage, and his dog was returned to him in the end. Here's a thought though, go and work for animal rescue. I have, and it's disgusting (what people with houses do to animals). Do that and then tell me a house makes all the difference in the world. Because it doesn't, each case must be judged individually, if the animal is cared for, there is no problem.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Where the hell do we live? Where do you live? A fucking fairyland?! A house does makes quite a bit of difference! Oh and for your quick thought I have volunteered for both animal shelters and vet offices before and that''s the main reason i even came up with this amirite. Because of all the near death animals I seen that have been either taken from a homeless person or dropped once they finally realize they can't take care of an animal when they cant even take care of them selves!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You know what, you ignore reason, and are blind to contradictory arguments. I have already clearly explained all of my points. You are making sweeping generalizations about a group, seemingly without realizing the full extent of the group in question. You think of one negative part of a group as representative of the whole group. I hope you realize what I imply with that. You are a terrible person, and I am done with this. P.S. - I said animal rescue, not animal shelters. There is a clear, and very important, difference.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

A terrible person indeed. Nobody seems to be able to look deeper. Homeless men probably put more effort into giving their dog real care then do middle class or rich people. Plus, a bigger percentage of people with homes participate in dogfights, abuse animals, and neglect the pets.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

LOL that's funny!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

UNLESS they're blind. Other wise, take responsibility for yourself, get a house, and THEN get a dog.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As long as the person takes good care of the dog, I don't care. I'm not a huge animal rights person, but animals have feelings. It's not fair if a dog goes hungry or something because the person can't afford it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

By homeless, I think the person meant living on the streets begging for money. Way to take things waaaay to seriously.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If they can help the poor dog out, why not? Dogs are typically social beings. Even if the person can't necessarily feed the dog, they can still be company for the dog--and it can find food on it's own. The dog can protect the person, too.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The argument that homeless people cannot feed their dogs is invalid. Homeless doesn't mean broke, and they have to be able to feed themselves or else they die. So they can also feed a dog. Also, dogs don't require as much food as us humans, and a man constantly on the roam instead of sitting lazy in front of his computer/TV/pornography can easily give a dog more time, exercise, love, and bonding time. Also, as a homeless, a dog also gives you a companion, hope, someone to care for, and something to live for. Dogs and pets in the homeless realm lowers suicide rates and raises self esteem and effort to find work and food, in order to better care for themselves and their companion. If homeless people, who constantly have very little can't have a dog, then middle class+ people shouldn't even be allowed to interact with them.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

well there are a couple different types of homeless people. there are the ones like truckers, ones that live in fairyland like that person was saying with Hooch that make $!00,000 a year and there are the ones that make little to no money at all and shouldn't have a dog cause they can't feed it equaling they starve. you can't really argue with that. plus half of them do drugs.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First, More than half of normal people with houses and money also do drugs and own dogs, so that's invalid. Also, if a homeless man couldn't feed a dog then it would die. I doubt we only see homeless men with dogs only during the rare period they are alive. Plus, do you really think that homeless men just find a healthy dog, say "you're mine" to its face and just take it and starve it? Unless the homeless man is restricting it by a leash more powerful than the dog's pull, and the homeless man is well fed enough to hold it, the dog can just run off and find it's own food, by whatever means. It has to WANT to stay with them. The dog stays by will, it is not forced. The man does not own it, the dog simply stays with him, as a companion. To say that all homeless people shouldn't have dogs is cruel, and if you're not going to help the guy out by offering him a home or a job, at least let him have his only friend. Anything else?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i dont see why they can't if they take good care of the dog

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I find this funny because I bet that a lot of people that are against abortion still agreed with this post. Think about it, would'nt it be a fairly similar concept?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If they can feed it and love it, why not.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

seriously. Feeding a dog isn't hard. Normal people make it seem hard because they have so much else on their mind. A homeless man wouldn't have alot else on his agenda. Find food, give to dog, find shelter, sleep. If the dog didn't like the situation, he could leave.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

OKAY seriously people, i don't think the op was talking about this mystical $100,000-a-year-making homeless guy who sleeps over at friends houses every night- i think we can all agree that we've seen at least once the grimy homeless man in rags (not to be mean) on the curb in New York or where ever with a starving dog missing patches of hair lying at the man's side next to the half-empty bottle of beer. that's not right; the dog is suffering too, and the least you could do is give him a good home. i doubt the so-called $100,000 is going to dog food and other dog care products if the man doesn't even have clothes for himself. ...BUT the homeless guy does need a companion, i guess...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

if the circumstances are different, then the answer will vary, but for this situation (probably the one the op was talking about), it's probably best that the dog have a somewhat more stable owner.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The guy can easily take care of a do g because you know before dogs were pets they actually had to survive on there own

by Anonymous 13 years ago

This guy here knows what he's talking about.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/09/BA0L1BUHFB.DTL and http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/10/BAAJ1BV43M.DTL (it's a cat, but whatever) Just because a person is homeless doesn't mean that it can't give an animal unconditional love--something a lot of people with homes and steady jobs forget to do with their pets.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Living in san francisco, i see homeless people all the time. Alot of them have dogs and i think that it really helps them out. It gives them a friend, someone that they can take care of and care about and it also makes people give them more money on the street. And like anonymous said up at the top, not all homeless people are schizophrenic weed smoking bums. Lots of homeless people are just normal people that just happen to not own a house and find shelter day by day, and some of them just happen to own pets. I think its just plain old ridiculous to say someone shouldn't have the right to own a pet just because they are different.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Please visit Pets of the Homeless website and help. This is a nonprofit that has helped many pets across the country and in Canada with pet food and veterinary care. The need is so great and donations are low. Instead of talking do something!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

having a pet existed long before what we know as a house & the vet profession. canines existed fine without people they will continue to do so after we're gone. homeless dogs offer companionship & often protection for a homeless person people with hundred thousand dollar homes dont always care about their pet. when the government & economy collapse no one will have a 'home' do we kill off all animals we designate as pets? no thanks. stay 'only people with tons of money should have things in life' though i'll be over here prepping with my dog to be homeless.

by Anonymous 8 years ago