[user104658]

Originally Posted by Liam-

What has being a vegetarian got to do with being disgusted by a person slaughtering a dog because it barked?

Nothing. It has everything to do with being called "a psycho" for stating that it's "just a dog", though, because anyone who would state such and still eat meat is being a bit of a hypocrite. Either they eat meat and think "it's just a pig" / "it's just a cow" and are fine with it, OR they feel the same way about pigs and cows as they do about dogs but eat them anyway, which would be barbaric.

The actual explanation is that people are sentimental about dogs but are not sentimental about other animals in the same way, even though there is no objective difference between a dog and a pig.

Actually, maybe it's just "pets"? People would probably be horrified if someone came along and stole someones pet piggy from their garden and ate it on some nice white bread with ketchup. They don't give a **** about eating bacon from the supermarket. The conclusion there, then, is that it actually has nothing AT ALL to do with the animal itself and it's purely down to the prescribed attachment and humanisation of the individual animal.

All of the above in summary: People are emotionally inconsistent and live in a fantasy world where pets become people.