Pamper your pooches as much as you like, but pups just aren't people

A reader suggests 'fur babies' could be put to better use, and that animals shouldn't be treated like people. Picture by Rodney Braithwaite

I AM a dog lover. Unlike people, dogs love you unconditionally. But dogs should never be elevated to the status of people, nor should they take over our lives.

I see many pampered pooches. Recently, in Japan at a tourist site, I saw a squeaky clean white Husky being carried by a Japanese cyclist using a sling on his back. I often see 'fur babies' or small yappy terriers being wheeled around in prams. I appreciate some of these dogs may be old or may be baby substitutes of couples who cannot have, or cannot afford, a human baby.