People have an emotional attachment to their pets and consider them family
As pet culture increases the consumption of dog meat decreases. Dogs are the most popular pet to own in the world and while this popularity only continues to grow, so do the negative feelings towards the idea of eating meat from animal breeds people consider companions, friends, and even family.
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Context
Dogs are more prominently being seen a pets, spreading a dislike of their consumption due to their new friend and family status.
The Argument
In the past, dogs were used to guard livestock against predators. In other cases, dogs were a food source. However, with the development of freezers, commercial farming, and the meat industry, there’s less need to consume dogs as a food source. With dogs having the status of friends and family for many cultures, people refuse to eat dog meat due to their companionship.[1]These sentiments have also started a movement in China to ban the dog meat trade, despite how prominent the consumption was with the country being the worlds largest consumer of dog meat.[2]
One thing that separates dogs from other livestock is that they don’t produce products for food unlike other animals. Chickens have eggs, and cows and goats have milk, but dogs don’t make additional consumer resources. Their use stems from their companionship with humans and the reasons behind their domestication. In addition to being friends, dogs can work too, herding sheep, guarding the home, and helping the disabled.
Counter arguments
Throughout history, people have always become emotionally attached to animals they've taken into their homes. Humans are empathetic creatures so it’s not odd for us to develop feelings the people and the animals we show care towards. We see theses emotional connections all the time in stories and the media. Dogs though are merely tools for many people that have a job to do. Fish are a type of pet people own yet still eat. While people may argue there's a less emotional attachment with fish, the concept is the same. There is no defining factor for when an animal becomes food instead of a friend.
For Western cultures, there's a heavier distinction between friends and food due to pet culture, but for people who rely on the income their livestock brings, that line is easier to blur. A dog is just an animal for many cultures across the planet. While some might find such things cruel, it's no different than raising piglets to become pork on the dinner table.
Proponents
Premises
[P1] China, one of the most prominent consumers of dog meat has started to go through the process of banning the dog meat trade.