There is a solution to this, though, and it is the solution that generations -- generations -- of people have chosen.
1) don't have a pet that you will have to leave alone for too long because it is cruel to do this just so you have a pet to keep you company when you have time to enjoy it
2) there is no 2)
I have plenty of grace for people in my life -- much, much more than you might imagine. I have no patience for people who treat the happiness of their pet as transactional and have created a service economy to support it.
Life is change. Many people get pets when they can take care of them. Then their job changes. I think you and I may differ on the meaning of grace and patience.
And pets can be a twenty year commitment. If the possibility of a dog having to end up in doggie daycare is so heinous a thought that one shouldn't ever allow it, then the answer is no one should have pets, because no one can effectively plan for that time. People move, accidents happen, partners leave, life conditions change, it is totally unavoidable.
> then the answer is no one should have pets
That is definitely the more ethical answer, then.
I do not have a pet because despite having the space and working from home, I would be asking an animal to be lonely with me when it could be happier elsewhere, I would have to leave that animal in kennels if I needed to travel, and as a non-driver there are too many ways I have to travel where it is IMO inappropriate to take a pet.
This is not a thing that makes me personally happy. But it's the more ethical answer.
> Accidents happen, partners leave, life conditions change, it is totally unavoidable.
And pets can be found new homes in those rare situations.
> And pets can be found new homes in those rare situations.
The average lifespan of a dog is 10-13 years.
The average lifespan of a cat is 13-17 years.
The average tenure for a job in the US is 4 years.
It isn't rare. Can I guess you'd give up your child too if your job changed?
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Could you please stop posting inflammatory/abusive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
Just trying to think of how much change my dog has seen. She's been with us through college, two children being born, getting married, moving a few times, different jobs, a pandemic, more.
I still haven't needed doggy day care, but I fully understand how it would happen. There have been periods we've probably been lucky she hasn't developed behaviours (or bit me in my butt to remind me she still existed).
But luckily for you are sure your definition is the correct one and therefore you sling it around in accusations.
A couple years ago I got a puppy. At the time I worked from home. A few months ago I got a new job and now I have to go into the office. She spent the first two years of her life with me being used to me almost always being around. It would be cruel to suddenly leave her alone all day five days a week. What are you suggesting people should do in similar situations? Should I only work remote for the rest of her life? Should I have taken her from the only home she knows and given her to someone else who works from home?
The solution is to find her a new home, yes. Sorry.
Why is that a better solution than paying someone to take care of her while I'm at work?
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So instead I should uproot her and move her to a new home with people she doesn't know. When they go through a life event like changing jobs, getting injured, having to move to look after a family member, having children, etc they should repeat the process and shuttle her off to another strange place.
> will you continue paying doggie day care out of consistency for her, or will you stop?
In that situation I'd probably continue but cut back. I've always paid for classes, private training, and other enrichment activities for her so this wouldn't be any different.
> Because if you stop, you're taking away someone and somewhere and maybe several other animal friends who she's formed an attachment to. For your own needs.
Parents do this to their children all the time. Should parents not move to a new city because their children would be cut off from their current friends?
> it's no different to dumping a child in boarding school
No, it's no different to dumping a child in public school or daycare. They get taken care of while I work and when my work day is done I can spend time with them.
> I think doggie day care is a sign of a society in ethical decline.
You've made a number of comments about doggie day care being immature or a sign that society is declining but you've never made a coherent argument for why that is. What is immature or unethical about wanting my pet taken care of when I'm unavailable, planning for that, and paying someone for the service they provide?
> I think doggie day care is a sign of a society in ethical decline.
If anything, it's a sign of the opposite. Before, people would just leave their dog at home all day regardless of the impact to the dog.
The fact that more people are now willing to spend money (and time to get the dog to daycare) so that their dog isn't left home alone is unarguably more ethical.
I accept that one can make this argument, but since not leaving your dog alone can be implemented in other ways (arranging to leave them with friends and family, arranging swap relationships with one or two other dog owners, etc.) I am not convinced by the whole dog parent/furbaby/school bus BS, which is infantile and indicative of a society that now prizes immaturity and low compromise.
I don't understand how your alternative solutions are any different to taking a dog to a daycare location.
Are you conflating dog walkers and dog daycare?
And how is taking more care of your dog than used to be the norm indicative of now prizing immaturity and low compromise?
People are investing more time, effort, and money into their pets than ever before. That is the antithesis of immaturity and low compromise.