from Hacker News

Modern dog ownership has redefined family and parenting

by nreece on 5/23/25, 4:14 AM with 15 comments

• by bmink on 5/23/25, 4:50 AM

  > The authors of the study also propose alternative ways of thinking about the dog-human bond, blending the characteristics of different human relationships – not only the child-parent relationship, but also friendship and partnership - resulting in a unique bond with its own dynamics.

  This is only towards the end of the article but addresses what was bothering me throughout it all — that having dogs is only viewed here through the lens of how it relates to having children.

  What if some people (like me) simply 1) like dogs 2) don’t want children, and there’s no link?

• by nreece on 5/23/25, 4:37 AM

  From the article: " The authors are currently running a new study to deepen the understanding of the dog-human relationship. Dog owners across the world are invited to answer the following questionnaire: https://tally.so/r/nPXKPb "

• by MountainMan1312 on 5/23/25, 5:20 AM

  Can't stand people who go out of their way to own animals. If an animal befriends you or you rescue one, that's great. But being a "dog person" and when your old dog dies you feel the need to go out and "get" another dog... no different than those Victorian era rich folk throwing bread crumbs on the ground so they could watch hungry colony children scraffle around for it, and then act like they're doing them a good deed. Just letting you feel superior. That or you're just selfish and feel entitled to own people. Either way it's evil.