On Homelessness and Dogs

My colleague Greyson wrote a pretty fascinating article in today's paper -- he interviewed a few people about to get kicked out of their tent city in town.

There's a vibrant, rotating homeless shelter here sponsored by churches, but the problem is, there's no room for dogs. And many homeless people have dogs.

Some of the people Greyson talked to said they would never leave those dogs. They'd rather be put in jail for trespassing or freeze to death than give up the dogs.

I was pretty outraged that these people would sacrifice their lives for a dog. They could sacrifice it to one of the many no-kill shelters in town, give the dog a better life and get help for themselves. The dogs have basically paralyzed these people from taking any action to improve their situation.

But then I realized this has nothing to do with dogs. People love dogs and impose human qualities onto them because there's nobody else who loves them unconditionally. Nobody else trusts them, thinks the best of them, sticks around in the cold and the homelessness. The affection of a dog is the last shred of dignity they have in sub-human conditions.

Homelessness has less to do with the economy and much more to do with the quality of your human connections.