Are we forcing our pampered pets to evolve in a way that lessens their natural mechanisms to fend for themselves?

I think we are. As you can see, the same thing is happening to humans; not very many of us can just get off the couch, go out into the wild and hunt down dinner anymore. I have a westie mix and he has a coat, but it is only for when it gets very cold out (We live in Canada).

If you want your dog to be less spoiled, I suggest slowly weaning her off all these luxuries. Put her to bed without her pillow and if she cries, just ignore it. Within a few days, she should be okay sleeping without the pillow.

Also, if you see her on the couches, tell her no in a firm voice, then remove her. Consistant training will help her get back to normal.

Yes. As Hawkeye says, humans are in a way devolving, too. You don't find microwaves or laptop computers in the wild.

I don't know if I would survive a week without modern conveniences. We are breeding dogs to be smaller and smaller. None of these "toy" dogs could survive in the wild, in my opintion.

Surely they would be eaten by larger animals. They are so small that they can't even run very fast.

You are probably right. As most of you know, I pamper my dogs about as much as anyone. However, I never intend for them to have to fend for themselves, so who cares?

I plan to always be there for them or someone else to take care of them. Humans are pampered to a point also. Almost none of us could go back to the stone age and be happy.

We probably would not be able to survive also. Of course, that won't happen so we might as well enjoy life and allow our pets to enjoy life also.

I don't think we are pampering them to a lesser defense as animals will always go back to being wild when hungry. I think we are breeding them to be less effective in the wild when we choose how we want certain breeds to look. A cat will eat it's owner if they die in the house and a cat goes unfed.

Dogs bred for short legs will not make it in the wild, purebreds have less of a chance in the wild as they are to highstrung. They have shown through example that the dogs most likely to survive when left without human hand are mutts. If a pitbull or shepard loses it's nailpolish it will return to pack hunting in no time.

I think humans also will return to packs if necessary and each will bring their own skill to the pack.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.