Choices and freedom
The freedom a lot of us have in this world to decide what we want to sell, buy, consume and essentially how we want to live our life is a wonderful thing; it is the power of choice and free will. You get to decide if you want to smoke a cigarette, eat a pastry or start a business.
I enjoy this freedom very much most of the time, and at other times I wish someone could make my decisions for me. But I find it particularly upsetting in the pet industry that so many pet stores sell products or items that are not just bad for your pet but can damage their health and well-being.
*Disclaimer: I personally think these products are “bad” because of my own views and beliefs as a dog owner. These are purely just my recommendations and opinions.
Unlike most humans, our pets don’t get a voice or choice in a lot of their life. We often decide when they go out to the bathroom, when they eat, what they eat and even if we will let them smell a mailbox or not. While every pet parent has the free will to choose what collar, food and toys they want to buy for their pet, I think most pet parents don’t realize that a pet store would knowingly sell something that’s dangerous or harmful for their pet.
We know profit drives production, but pet stores that sell products that are not good for your pet are essentially taking advantage of pet owners that do not know that these products are damaging or risky. I think most people know that cigarettes are not good for your health and that eating fruits and vegetables are good for your health. But do we have the same awareness when it comes to the pet industry? Do we know what food or products are actually healthy or increase the longevity of our pets?
I don’t have all the answers but I do want to cover quickly four items I commonly see across most pet stores in America that I wish were not on the market. My hope is to share insight into why I don’t like them and maybe move others to think more conscientiously when picking out items at the pet store.
Rawhide Bones
Rawhide is the inner skin of animals and it’s a tempting treat to give your dog. Dogs love it and it satisfies there urge to chew and can usually keep them busy for a good while.
I think a lot of people have caught onto the realization that rawhide is not good for dogs thanks to pet parents’ outspoken judgment on those that buy it for their pets. But in case you haven’t heard why you shouldn’t give your dog rawhide-here’s why:
- Most rawhide is made with chemicals that aren’t good for your pet.
- Rawhide is so hard (if you can’t break it with your hands it is generally too hard to give your dog) that you risk your dog breaking their teeth on it.
- Rawhide is a serious choking hazard because of the fact that it is so tough and dogs can break off chunks that are not appropriately sized and it risks serious injury such as blockage or death for your pet because of the indigestibility of the product.
Choke/Prong Collars
Choke and/or prong collars do as their appropriately named, choke the dog. People tend to get them to get their dog to stop pulling so hard on the leash and walk “nicely”.
If you currently use one, your trainer advised you to use one, or you are planning on getting one, please give me 5 seconds to convince you otherwise.
- When you choke your dog because they are pulling too hard, you are indeed getting them not to pull (for whatever reason they are pulling), but you are only getting them not to pull because it hurts them to pull. You are establishing a fear associated with you, the leash and possibly other aspects of the walk too (mailboxes, other people, dogs) that says whatever behavior and emotion that is driving me to cause tension on the leash is bad because I get choked.
- Dogs pull. One of pet owners most common frustrations, loose leash walking, is an issue because pet owners often don’t understand why their pet is pulling and then subsequently don’t know how to get them to stop pulling. Your dog might be pulling because there is a very interesting smell that they want to sniff ( dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in us). They might be pulling because they hear the dump truck coming up the road and it frightens them. They might be pulling because they are excited by the woman with food across the street. There are so many different reasons, and teaching your dog to not pull period or they will get hurt does create a looser leash but it also creates a fearful and hurting dog.
- When you use a choke collar, you are hurting your dog and putting them at risk for vocal cord damage, cherry eyes, difficulty breathing, etc.
- Choke collars like any other “tool”, easy-walk harness, gentle leader, etc. are all just tools. Not training.
Corrective spray
Pet corrector spray is a can that emits compressed gas to make a sound that startles or interrupts the dog during whatever behavior the dog is doing that you don’t like. Emitting a startling sound may not seem damaging but it is, and here’s why:
- When you spray this can at your puppy or kitten for a “bad” behavior, you are conditioning them to be afraid of that behavior. You aren’t understanding why the puppy is doing that behavior, you are just applying an immediate band-aid to an issue that requires training.
- The problem with conditioning them to be fearful is that it suppresses the animal’s emotions and needs. This can lead to them acting out in other ways you don’t like, to anxiety disorders, to increased fear of other things you didn’t even mean for them to be fearful of in the first place.
Electric collars
I will shamefully admit, I used one of these on my first dog. I was 14 years old, I adopted (with the help of my mother) my girl Lucy from a shelter, and I brought her home to our beautiful but un-fenced yard. How was I to keep her inside the yard? My naive and financially limited self thought an invisible fence was the solution. We trained Lucy that when she heard a beep she needed to go back towards the house and if she continued past the beep, she got a shock from her electric collar. This breaks my heart now. I think it made me uncomfortable at age 14 but I also don’t think I knew nearly as much as I do now and I trusted what adults around me told me was okay as well.
Electric collars are bad for the same reason choke collars are bad. They teach your dog to fear certain behaviors, environments and surroundings and they are negative reinforcers. Not only that but they hurt your dog.
Unfortunately, anything that beeps now, a watch alarm going off or our digital thermometer on our stove, scares my Lucy greatly and she’ll take off running. I’ve worked very hard to recondition Lucy to know she is safe now and I’ve also installed a real, physical fence to keep her safely in the yard. I have vowed never to use a product like that again, but I did damage to Lucy and I greatly regret it.
Why I wish the freedom to choose these “bad” products was restricted
Unlike with humans, animals don’t have a voice. We can abuse, manipulate and use them because frankly we have dominion over them. Dominion doesn’t mean submission or oppression, it means we have ownership, authority over them. It is up to you how you use or abuse that ownership.
When pet stores sell these “bad” products, they support the makers and suppliers of these products. Continually feeding a message to the maker that this product is in demand. When an everyday owner walks into a pet store and sees a rawhide bone with a pretty bow on it that says,” long-lasting chew”, it gives the owner the impression that a pet store is selling this so it must be okay for my pet.
How do we get pet stores to stop selling harmful things?
Like any other movement in history, changing things that are so saturated in our society takes a long time and a lot of effort. The biggest thing you can do is avoid these products yourself and if you know another friend or family member that uses them, share with them what you have learned. Every pet parent has their own unique and special pet and what works for one owner may not work for another. But you can share potential dangers you have experienced or learned about as a precaution and let each decide for themselves.
