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Worldwide, 57 percent of households own at least one pet, with cats and dogs being the most popular choices. Introducing a furry companion into your household is a lot like bringing a new baby home that will never grow up. Often curious and stubborn to a fault, these destructive little trouble makers never seem to run out of energy. Our purpose as their loving guardians is to take on these challenges with a level head no matter what they spill on the carpet, no matter how much furniture they destroy, or how early they decide to wake us up in the morning.
We know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into when we adopt a furbaby, but sometimes they’re actions are so horrible or so hilarious, that the best way to punish them is to shame them on the internet for the world to see. There are websites and special groups online dedicated to people sharing pictures that they took when they caught their pets in the act of doing something especially naughty. From dogs who barreled through wooden doors to cats bringing home new friends, here are some of the most loved posts on the internet!
Source: Facebook
Animal Behaviour talks about the pitfalls of “Pet Shaming”:
Obviously the dogs will never see their photos, so the “shaming” doesn’t create any direct emotional fall-out for them as it could for children who see their shaming online. BUT, dog shaming isn’t necessarily the harmless event it seems to be on the surface. The problem is that dog shaming perpetuates a common, and sometimes damaging myth about dogs, their behavior and how they learn. Some of the dogs in the shaming pictures are showing what behavior scientists would call submissive behaviors. Their ears are back, they are avoiding eye contact, their eyes are wide, and/or the eyes are drawn together making their brows appear wrinkled (giving that “worried” look).
It’s a good bet some owners are scolding the dogs while they are taking the picture, which elicits these submissive behaviors that people often misinterpret as “guilty” looks. Recent research has validated it is the scolding that brings out the submissive behaviors from dogs, not the emotion of guilt.
When people believe their dogs show guilt, and know right from wrong, it provides justification for punishment after the fact. From fundamental principles of animal learning, we know that the consequences of a behavior (whether good or bad) need to immediately (within about 3 seconds) follow the behavior in order for learning to occur. Attempting to show the dog his “mess” (whatever that may be) as a means of connecting past behavior with later punishment not only isn’t effective at stopping the unwanted behavior, but often creates conditioned fears and aversions (dogs that stop greeting their owners at the door). It’s certainly not fair to the dog, who can’t understand why he’s being scolded, and only teaches dogs not to trust their owners because the latter are so unpredictable.
Dogs also don’t know “right” from “wrong” in an ethical or moral sense. What they are quite capable of learning is under what conditions rewards and punishment can be expected. For example, most dogs easily learn the rule not to get in the trash when someone is present. But many dogs raid the trash when alone because it often results in tasty tidbits and no one is home to yell at them. That’s quite different than concluding a dog knows it’s “wrong” to get in the trash, but tries to “get away with it” when no one is home.
Even the DailyMail had comments on it!
It is the online craze that has amused dog owners around the world. But now vets warn that ‘dog shaming’ – posting pictures of misbehaving pets next to a sign detailing their bad behaviour – is actually harmful to the animals involved. Chewing a chair leg, digging up a flowerbed and destroying the sofa are just a few of the crimes which have prompted dog owners to ‘name and shame’ their beloved pets online.
But while this may all seem like a bit of light-hearted fun, vets and animal welfare experts disagree. They claim that the ‘guilty looking’ animals are actually scared or anxious and owners are undermining their pet’s ‘dignity’. Secretary of the Kennel Club Caroline Kisko, who has studied several ‘dog shaming’ photographs, told the Telegraph: ‘The idea of shaming a dog is daft. ‘Dogs don’t like having the mickey taken out of them and can undoubtedly plug into that. So why would you do that to your pet? You wouldn’t mock your family or your friends like this, so why your dog?
We Love Puck. Puck Only Loves Puck. Last Week He Hurt Himself And Couldn’t Get Up. We Sobbed As We Thought He Needed His Final Car Ride. As Soon As We Scooped Him Up He Miraculously Was Fine (I Think His Hip Was Out Of Socket Until We Picked Him Up.) He Thanked Us By Snatching And Eating An Entire Pizza Off The Table Later That Same Night. Puck Is Also A Junkie And Demands His Meds Morning And Night. We Are Amazed Puck Is Still With Us. Puck Insists On Staying Around Just To Aggravate Us Some More. We Can Shame Puck, But He Has Zero Shame (See The Smug Look On His Face?)
Kiwi Is An Ungrateful Jerk Who Always Gapes And Strikes At Us. Even Though We Feed Him And He Has A Wonderful Enclosure. Well Today One Of His Children Hatched And During His First Beautiful Moments On This Earth, He Decided To Cop An Attitude. The Same Ungrateful Attitude As His Dad. Little Jerks
‘It might be a bit of fun, when it is kept to a reasonable level, but people take them too far and it stops being funny for the dog. Dogs have a level of dignity and we don’t want to undermine that. They are meant to be a companion, not a joke.’ The most common ‘dog shaming’ photos are of pets who have destroyed items belonging to their owners. While many pet owners would argue this is a typical behaviour of a dog, experts suggest it could in fact be a symptom of stress or underlying health problems.
He’s Been Gone For A Week And I Really Missed Him, So When They Were Curled Up On The Couch, I Rang The Bell At The Back Door. When Momma Got Up To Let Me Out, I Took Her Spot On The Couch. I Know He Likes Me More
Since She Get 1 Bark Box A Month, Now She Thinks Every Package That Comes In The Mail Belongs To Her. She Tried To Steal A Pakage Of Socks Right Out Of My Hands.
I Never Get Into Water Or Mud Unless It’s The Same Day Of My Bath And My Parents Have Spent The Whole Day Cleaning The House And Mopping All The Floor! It’s Not My Fault It Was Clean For Only 30 Minutes!
But The Peak Of His Career Is When He Jumped In The Pellet Jar And Got Stuck. He Was Living The Best Time Of His Life, Eating As Much As He Could, While I Was Almost Crying. Luckily, Just Turning The Jar Upside Down Worked And This Bitch Didn’t Got Hurt, Him And Hundreds Of Pellets Just Fell On My Bed! This Pic Went Kinda Viral In Bunny Groups And When Noodles Was Neutered, Months Later, I Told His Name To The Vet And She Asked “Isn’t Him The Bunny Who Got Stuck In A Jar?” I Couldn’t Believe My Little Asshole Was Famous! She Told Me She Was Proud Of Me For Not Panicking And Getting Him Out Without Harming Him, Then Noodles Took Advantage Of Our Inattention And Tried To Jump Off The Table.
What about you? What did you think? Have you ever shamed your pets like this? Tell us down in the comments!
