You know, while the concept was exceedingly clever, the reality is that this "joke" did cause hurt to a number of people. The subject matter wasn't carefully considered beforehand, I think .. it could have been a GREAT joke if it had been, perhaps, a declaration of love or something equally silly. But given the broad range of personalities and beliefs on a forum like this, the post was in extremely poor taste.
I feel for those who were hurt by this .. those who have recently lost pets and yet felt singled out by an apparent attack on the pets that have just died .. those who have ill or injured animals and are very fresh to pain ... those who just plain had a bad day. A joke is fine, but it SHOULD be something that all parties can laugh at easily .. if it isn't, then it's a cruel joke.
And, of course, there are always those who (in a very "superior" way), make fun of the ones who aren't amused. They say things like "lighten up!" .. "it was JUST a JOKE" .. and insinuate that those who don't find it as funny as they do are just plain missing a sense of humor. Those kind of comments simply reflect on a person's lack of kindness and compassion to me.
For the record - I saw this thread shortly after it was posted. Of course, I read it (who wouldn't, when your name is in the subject line?? *LOL*). I laughed at it before I knew it was a joke .. I'm not concerned at all about what people think of my training or feeding, because I live with the daily success of it. And seeing a couple of posts in response, it was obvious it was a joke and I didn't respond. But in coming back to this and reading through the anger and pain others felt, I don't find that in the least amusing. How can anyone be amused by another's pain?? That's just not right to me.
So .. clever trick .. poor choice of topic .. maybe next time people (especially mods) will think before they post something that can create anger and pain for so many.
Just my opinion, of course!
Melanie and the gang in Alaska
.. the most perfectly trained, best fed dogs in the WORLD, of course .. *L*