I’m curious to know if other dog owners do this: if I give one dog a treat, I have to give the other one a treat, and it must be of equal value. It isn’t as if I don’t know that within three seconds the slighted one will have forgotten the whole affair and already be scampering into the family room to play with a toy that he or she has spotted in the center of the rug, the same one that he or she abandoned six seconds earlier to score that treat I was offering. Or, if I spend 10 minutes playing fetch with one, I will be reassuring the other for the entire 10 minutes that they’ll get their turn and can reasonably expect 10 minutes of fetch play.
Why do we persist with this idea of fairness when they don’t care (at least as soon as the “injustice” has terminated)? I invite you to reflect on our practice of fairness with our canine companions; can you think of your own examples?
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