There are definitely some very shitty pet owners around. There’s a dog we walk ours by that is out all day on a wire lead whether its family is home or not and it’s constantly pulling on it and jumping around because it’s clearly full of energy that it can’t expend. I doubt it’s enough to call the humane society and have them do anything about it unfortunately.
Our two dogs are very well-loved. They sleep on the bed with us, get the food our vet recommends (a brand called Taste of the Wild) and we have a dog door so they can run around their big yard. I’ve had four dogs in my life and I’d like to think I’ve treated all of them as well as, if not more than, I could be expected to reasonably do so.
I sure as fuck would never smother one of them any more than I’d smother a relative dying of cancer.