I love dogs. They evolved with us from prehistoric times. They know how to charm us, or rather, mesmerize us into total dependency. I suspect this news bit definitely signals a depressing sign-of-the-times dog owners pamper their pets at $8000 a pop to fly with their masters.
This makes me wonder if dogs own and train their masters, and not the other way around. The cliché ‘gone to the dogs.’ seems most fitting.
If a ‘petrified owner decides to leave his pet behind, he can hire a dog sitter: “Pet sitters often charge $25 for a 30-minute visit, $20 to $30 a day, $45 to $75 per night, or $250 to $375 per week.”
The daily expense: “According to our survey of more than 1,000 dog owners, most spent an average of $40 to $290 per month on their dogs — or an average of $480 to $3,470 annually. Jan 10, 2024”
Then, consider just a routine pet visit to a pet hospital for a check up:
“The cost of your furry friend’s trip to the veterinarian will vary greatly. If you’re going in for a routine visit, expect to pay $50 to $250, though even that can vary depending on your location and which veterinarian you visit. Emergency veterinary visits can add up even more.”
Consider the cost of burial: “The cost of pet burials in states like New York and California can go up to $2,000.”Feb 17, 2023”
Now… you’d think all this money spent on pets shows a love of animals, but think again. It could be a sign of desperate loneliness, or worse.
Extreme prosperity will have its paradoxical effect, so that men sooner or later behave like hound dogs, and their dogs are worshiped as if men.
Who was that music idol? Ah, yes, Elvis Presley, swiveling his hips on stage while singing, “I ain’t nothing but a hound dog.”
The United States now suffers the same dubious blessing as did Ancient Egypt–of being too prosperous for its own good. Courageous theologians might proclaim, at risk of being stoned, blatant idolatry has taken root in western culture, as it did in ancient Egypt.
“Anubis, also known as Anpu in Ancient Egyptian, is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.”
Anubis: guide to the underworld!
Oops. Maybe dogs aren’t so benevolent as we’d hoped. Perhaps dogs offer easy access to the restless hell of unfulfilled love. Spelling ‘dog’ in reverse reveals that God is the one companion the soul genuinely craves. But the cost of discipleship is high, so much more costly than owning a German shepherd. Maybe that’s why dogs are readily preferred to God.
It’s cheaper. God is too expensive to keep as our honored guest forever.
Do we suffer the ironic twist of moral hypocrisy on a grand scale?
”In his book, The Happiness Hypothesis, the University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks whether we are all hypocrites in matters of morality.”
rmdellorfanoauthor.com
THE TRIQUETRA OF LIFE: Wisdom, Wealth, and Wellness 
Leave a comment