Are people who hate dogs mean and maladjusted? Yes! That’s the highlight for me of a New York Magazine story on The Rise of Dog Identity Politics. The John Homans piece sprawls over many peculiar developments in the evolution of the urban dog, but the most interesting to me was this finding:
A 1999 study found that people who strongly dislike dogs score significantly higher on the measure of anal character and lower on the empathy scale of the California Psychological Inventory, indicating “that people who liked dogs have less difficulty relating to people.”
Haven’t dog- and animal-lovers always known that? On the extreme side, we’ve connected for a long time how serial killers get their start torturing animals. But we haven’t seen so clearly how misanthropes may start as dog haters. But any urban dog person knows the type: They jump back from your dog on the street, talk up their allergies, complain about dogs being dirty, then frequent dog-friendly places and whine.
Another thing about dog-haters? They love signs banning dogs. Maybe it’s part of their inability to communicate with other humans. A woman down the street from me has made it her one woman crusade to turn a public area into a no dog area, with wordy signs, which are frequently defaced. (My household, let us say, is not completely innocent.)
Since my own dog Jolly died in August, I don’t even have a dog in this fight anymore. But Jolly had this funny habit of barking at people who were yelling at dogs. It was like he felt he was part of the dog union. Dog people are proud to identify themselves as dog people, too. So I’m still in the dog union. I’ve always thought most places would be more enjoyable if the “No Dogs Allowed” signs were replaced with “No Dog-Haters” signs. (And thanks, to Zazzle, my dream has come true).
I find it ridiculous and infuriating that people have this idea that it’s okay to dislike any animal on the planet except stupid dogs. I love cats and snakes. But yet according to your article, it’s perfectly acceptable to say you hate cats and snakes. I despise dogs; that doesn’t make me mean or lacking in empathy just because I dislike one certain four legged furbag. What makes people think a dog is superior to any other animal?
An awful lot of dog lovers forget that not everyone shares their fetish and can’t understand anything about why others may be allergic, have had bad expierences, or that the scent of some people trigger dogs and can’t be helped.
People who strongly love dogs tend to be misathropes too. How many times have we heard them say that people are a cancer to the world?