By Douglas Groothuis, PhD
Dogs are not people, but we may get so close them that we forget that they cannot always understand us and our human ways. So, we get angry when they get underfoot or throw up (again) or tear up something because of separation anxiety or lose their excretory control if anxious. But they do not have human cognition, human consciousness, or human conscience. They can make us impatient or help us develop patience. Dogs are superior to us in some ways—in their loyalty, by their sense of smell and hearing, by their athleticism, and more. This is why we have service dogs and therapy dogs.
Dogs are not for everyone, but if you consented to care for one, you should treat the dog as a fellow creature of God, with needs and feelings. They don't usually ask for much—just affection, food, and some fun or work (for service dogs).
No, dogs are not substitutes for humans and they are not our children. (I don't like calling them "fur babies" for this reason.) There may be a time to euthanize a dog, but there is never a time to euthanize a human being made in God's image. You may even have to find another home for your dog for the sake of a human. But remember a dog is a dog, in all their glory and in all their non-humanness.