Note: This the second in our series on livestock and our notion of humanized nature. See the previous article called, Humanizing Nature for a broader perspective.

There are too many people out there in the world who have dogs and cats as pets. It is accepted in modern society to have a dog or cat as a pet, that serves no real purpose but to make our egos feel better. Most modern breeds of dogs and cats are breed to do such a thing.

It's as if the human race doesn't have enough of it own to keep us company. We want more then the companionship of a dog, we want something better. We want a pet. That is a dangerous notion, and leads to a dangerous misunderstanding of both our place and animals place on the earth. It's nice to curl up with a dog at night until one bites you on the ear.

Animals exist out there to be animals to be wild and free. They also exist domesticated to serve the human purpose. One of those purposes might be companionship. Another might be to provide milk and meat for us to eat. These notions are often contradictory and particularly confuse us when we start seeing animals as pets.

It's gotten more difficult as many pet owners have never lived on a farm or even seen a working animal. Very few people have seen animal slaughtered or been out hunting. Pets are just part of our lives, they act like humans in modern society. That is wrong.

We have to treat dogs like dogs, being firm and instructing them to do what we want to do them. We may or may not use them around the farm or out hunting, but we need to have that level of dominant control over them. Animals aren't controllable like humans, they need simple dominance. They need to be led often through brute force and crude gestures. They simply aren't herded like humans.

They might be cute, but they are still animals. They provide a service like companionship or food or as part of the biosphere. They aren't the same as we are. It's difficult to escape this notion, but we must do that if we have to a reasonable and sensible relationship to them. We have to realize they provide a service and nothing more.