Imagine your husband/partner/chlld/parent was on a ship that sank. You rush down to the docks only to find somebody stepping off the rescue boat with their dog that they had saved in preference to your husband/partner/chlld/parent. Think how you would feel.
That's why you save the person.
Yes, I agree.
I might not feel I wanted to let the dog drown, but I wouldn't consider saving the dog, especially if the human was a child.
I feel it would be a duty to save the child or another person first.
That's the thing, I think I would prioritise the person and then try and come back to the dog after.
Deep down I think some is peer pressure to do " the right thing" and also on some level I don't feel my dog is an equal to a human being.
I love him ( the dog) , because he is part of my personal family but in a life and death situation he doesn't come first.
The only time I might not, is if I completely loathed someone at that precise moment in time. Say if Ian Brady had murdered and tortured one of my children. In that instant I might well save the dog.
On the whole though I think it would be wrong to choose the dog over a human being.
The human being would have to have done something pretty awful for me to choose my dog.