Sometimes there can be a fine line between discipline and abuse, but not very often. Dogs might be man’s best friend, but they don’t have the same level of thought patterning as a human. Applying human characteristics of discipline onto a dog to cause it pain – that’s abuse, plain and simple.About 1 million animals per year are abused because of domestic violence that occurs in the home where they live.
71% of pet-owning women entering women’s shelters reported that their batterer had injured, maimed, killed or threatened family pets for revenge.
The percentage of battered women who say that their children have abused or killed animals while at home: 32%.The problem with abusing dogs is cyclical. Women who are abused by their domestic partner tend to seek out comfort from their dog when their stress levels are high. 98% of Americans consider a pet to be a direct companion. When domestic violence happens, the target becomes the dog for two reasons: 1) the abuser knows that they will be able to hurt the victim more by hurting their companion; and 2) most dogs aren’t going to fight back when they see someone they trust trying to hurt them. What is particularly disturbing in these facts, however, is the prevalence of children abusing animals. This shows that the patterns of domestic violence begin early in a third of domestic violence households and without intervention, more dogs and more people will simply be abused later on.The simple fact is that we as a society have set up the conditions for abusing dogs. At one point, it was believed that whipping animals was necessary to create meat that was tender or obedience. Sometimes these older practices still occur. The bottom line is this: when humans are afraid of something, we take it out on those that are helpless and won’t fight back most often. When this abuse occurs successfully, it then begins to breed a harshness and numbness to the pain of animals and this can eventually translate to a similar feeling about humans. This is why stopping dog cruelty now is so important.To be fair, many humans probably don’t intend to abuse their best friends. Many of them likely don’t even see it as abuse. Now skinning a dog to create a fur coat, as is sometimes done in India, is usually something that will make people flinch. Yelling at a dog because it just stands in the yard, looking at you because you’re telling it to “Come” and it won’t – that’s not often seen as abuse. The problem is that all abuse is harmful, whether intended or not. Words hurt. An angry tone of voice hurts. If dogs are being seen as “furry children” and they’re being treated this way, then imagine how real children would be treated? Until humanity gets over itself, the benefits that a dog can bring to someone will never be fully realized. PLEASE HELP STOP ANIMAL ABUSE SIGN SHARE PETITION.