To the extent there’s any notion of replacing human relationships and to your sibling comment’s point, she didn’t replace parenting a human child for me. That would never have happened, I had already decided that and agreed with my previous partner about that before we adopted pup.
There is one way my relationship with pup has curtailed other human interactions: I don’t want to spend a lot of time with people who find being around pup a nuisance. People who want to enjoy her are very welcome. People who are cautious about unfamiliar dogs are also welcome and they almost always warm up to her immediately. People who want me to exist without consideration of my pup don’t get my time. I have the same expectations for the presence of humans in my life who are important to me and aren’t harming anyone.
I don't think it's bad to put a puppy first, where the indictment of society seems to stand for me is that this is "the best thing" they've ever lived for.
I'm really really happy for the OP because it's really good to have a wonderful thing to live for, of course. And, dogs are awesome (albeit as sibling said, genetically engineered to be awesome, not that that really matters). More like... this feels to me another example of the extreme isolation of our modern society, especially in countries like the USA which lacks a degree of freedom enjoyed by many of us (freedom from fiscal anxiety caused by medical or education debt, freedom from fear of homelessness, freedom of travel, of leisure). I don't know the OP's location but the story smacks true of so many of my American friends who have found joy in their isolated lifestyle after getting a dog. Functionally alone in the suburbs, after driving home alone from work, too far from social meeting places and too tired to go to them after getting home around 7, their greatest joy is the dog that greets them earnestly when they get home. Their outside time is forced (happily) by the dog that needs a walk, otherwise, why bother? Walk around in the suburbs? If there's even a sidewalk, you're lucky.
But there's plenty of people for whom human interaction is basically torture, and in cases like that I'm really happy that such people can still find a form of social joy through a dog. We could be completely missing the mark with the OP, basically projecting our frustration with modern society on a very short paragraph from a stranger.
On HN, sometimes doubly so. I’ve several times deleted similar comments anticipating they’d be misunderstood. But “indictment on society” and reinforcing that as an illness of society is beyond the cruelty I’d imagined people here would come up with.
> We could be completely missing the mark with the OP, basically projecting our frustration with modern society on a very short paragraph from a stranger.
Maybe? You think? Random people telling me there’s something wrong with the whole society around me because I love my dog?
