Animal abuse is a major peeve of mine. I have a black lab named "Thunder" and I love him to death. Even though people tend to laugh at me for it I honestly consider him my equal. ( But I don't make him wear sweaters and feed him steaks . . . that's just creepy. )
It saddens me to think of ever hurting him. When he does something wrong I just over exaggerate my voice and yell a lot. He gets the point. However, when he was a pup I did swat him on the behind with a newspaper.

. . . there is a point where it's ridiculous though. Namely - PETA. They tend to overract over things that are just ridiculous.

Has anyone ever watched that show on Animal Planet with the cops going around and saving neglected and mistreated animals? . . . that shows makes me cry sometimes.