• hydrospanner@lemmy.world
      14·
      1 year ago

      My best friend’s girlfriend (and eventually wife) had two tiny Chihuahuas. One was pretty cool but the older one was just an asshole.

      He’d bark for attention then bark and snap when you gave him attention. He’d bark when he was happy, unhappy, excited, bored…really any state other than eating or sleeping.

      There was a narrow window when he was getting sleepy in which he was wonderful, quiet, and wanted a lap and pets…but then you were supposed to know when he was going from that state to “actually ready to nod off for real” and if you missed it, it was back to snarling, snapping, and yapping.

      While I’m a dog person, that was too much for me so I just ignored him most times and just let him bark himself to exhaustion.

      One day though it just got to me, and idk why, but I just turned and started yapping like him, right back in his face.

      Obviously he freaked out and wouldn’t be in the same room as me for the rest of the night, but I must have said something right in all my barking because after that, he was WAY more chill with me. Not perfect mind you, but just…normal small dog levels of weird and annoying. And if his mom was already in bed, when he got tired, I was always, oddly, his second choice of human after that, and he’d even zonk out in my lap.

      He’s been gone for years and years, but man, what a strange fuckin dog.

      • fossilesque@mander.xyzOPEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        Sometimes all you need to keep one asshole in line, is a bigger asshole.

        (Kidding of course, I’m sure you’re lovely!)

  • TAYRN@lemmy.world
    31·
    1 year ago

    Yeah. It’s suffering. There have been many studies which show that pets undergo extreme stress when humans decide to set off fireworks.

    I’m sorry that you think it’s a “little yapping dickhead”, but it’s still a living being with feelings. I don’t think it deserves trauma just because it barks a little too much.

    • thrawn@lemmy.world
      49·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think anyone is actually enjoying the animal’s suffering, it’s more meant to be a humorous juxtaposition of the annoying dog yapping and the dog’s own dislike of sound. Upon further thought, it’s obviously not the same as annoyance because they display fear. Humor often comes in the first beat though, before deeper reflection.

      I hate fireworks. They annoy me, but I’m also very aware of the affects of repetitive loud popping sounds. From pets to people/veterans with PTSD, they cause unnecessary suffering en massé every year. They also pollute, from the manufacturing to the smoke that most fireworks (to my knowledge) still emit, all for a pretty minimal gain. I still thought it was funny though, just from the base comparison of undesirable sound vs undesirable sound. That said, I’d run for president on a platform of “ban fireworks” either way

      • fossilesque@mander.xyzOPEnglish
        18·
        1 year ago

        Also, these dogs tend to be poorly trained which is entirely on the owners. This meme would have more gross undertones if I owned a toy breed but I don’t. Even my lazy lab mix/oversized catdog hates them if they don’t have good manners. 😅 I look at this meme more as a slight on the owners tbh.

    • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
      10·
      1 year ago

      Idk being scared doesn’t exactly equate to suffering. Once the fireworks stop the dog is fine. It’s just scary because it doesn’t know what’s going on. I have been in that position many times lol I wouldn’t say I was suffering. People who make such a big deal about it are usually the same people who are overly attracted to their dogs. They think of their dogs as a human child.

    • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
      10·
      1 year ago

      There’s a big difference between fantasizing about using the little yapping dickhead as a canon wad, and actually putting the yapping dickhead into a canon and firing it at a brick wall. Sure, I might think about poisoning my neighbors neglected dogs that do nothing but bark all day while I’m trying to concentrate, but i won’t, actually.