You must be a vegetarian then. If it's wrong to kill a dog, it's just as wrong to kill a cow or a pig.
Wrong, cows taste good. As an added bonus it pisses off teh shadow when I munch on some juicy steak
But seriously, I am slowly leaning towards the vegetarian side, especially considering the horrible treatment of animals in the meat industry. The meat industry on the large scale is a very morally corrupt agency... as I'm sure you're familiar with
avoid the details of what goes on in the livestock farms
On a smaller scale, for example when I opt for halaal meat instead, its harder to argue in favor of vegetarianism... since cruelty isnt so much an issue anymore. From what little understanding I have there is an ACTUAL nutritional dependence we have on animals- certain essential nutrients we acquire from them that are not otherwise found in the vegetarian diet.
But the point is that the analogy isn't fitting. Maybe its okay to eat cows, but there's no question that torturing cows is wrong. Provided appropriatte reasons, it maybe okay to "kill" an animal, but never to torture it.
I completely disagree with your position on "animal rights". The "rights" of animals end when they conflict with the rights or the needs of humans.
Our moral responsibility towards animals are less, though not non-existant. Its too broad a topic to talk abt, so lets localise this a bit. In the case discussed above, one shouldn't be quick to resort to beheading the animal, especially when there's an owner in charge of it. Now in the case that it was a wild animal that you absolutely could do nothing about, except to kill it, then you are justified in doing so. Otherwise its nothing but cruelty inflicted upon the animal.