Urm...

[ksmith]

Seen in another LJ, the following:

"Every dog is the same dog, but all cats are unique."**

Written, I assume, by a Cat Person. Originated by one, as well.

I should admit right off the bat that I am not a Cat Person. I like cats, but I'm also allergic as hell to them, as in "within a few minutes I'm a wheezing, hacking mess/cat dander raises welts" allergic. I'm also allergic to dogs, but not to that degree, although Mickey makes me itch more than does King.

I'm not going to get into a 'which is better' battle because it's all very subjective. Dogs are more labor-intensive than cats--yup. They need more exercise, litter boxes aren't (usually) an option, and they bark at night. But anyone who puts forth the monolithic canine personality argument is going to get the same look from me that King gives me when I scold him.

It's an irritating look.

Kinda dismissive.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Gonna stop there because I haven't had coffee yet, there's much to do, and I'm feeling a mite touchy.


**should I cite? I don't know the poster, and I've read the saying before, so I'm not really quoting...

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I love both cats and dogs, but for entirely different reasons. And dogs are no more one-personality-fits-all than cats or horses or humans. I give people who say that sort of thing King's look, too. :)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

King would agree.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

As a certified, bonafide cat person -- I'd still disagree with that. I love dogs, too, and I've never known two who were the same under the fur.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

We'd always been a one-dog-at-a-time family, but when I decided to get Mickey as a pal for King...the differences in personality, and how much that matters, hit me hard.

Mickey is a great dog, but he's a little too gentle for King. OTOH, a rougher dog may have meant more tussles, with the resulting bloodshed.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

A friend with Pomeranians suggested to me, a couple years ago, that the Cat Person / Dog Person divide is primarily about values, that dog people are more pack-ish and collectivist, and cat people are more individualist and ... well, I'd say lone wolfish if I was feeling ironic.

It was a generalization, of course, and as useful as most generalizations are. But I did find it interesting.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I'm not particularly social, and I'm a born Individual Contributor, but I prefer the greater interaction I get with a dog--it's nice to be greeted by two barking, romping pups when I get home from work.

Cat People have interaction as well. It's just different.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Ours wait at the door too, especially Rumble. Sometimes he tries to pretend he wasn't asleep on guard duty, which is especially endearing.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

Cats also greet you at the door--or at least mine always have--but it's not the same as with dogs. Mine would hassle me in that "I'm walking under your feet and meowing at you until you pay attention to me" way. They're just not likely to leap on their people like dogs are, and people generally discourage them from trying, since cat-leaps are usually pointy and painful.

In the two years between my previous cats and Random, I keenly missed being greeted at the door.

I would love a dog, but as I have very irregular hours and a small 1BR apartment, it would be a cruelty. Sometimes I think about a pocket-sized dog, but I would have to be one of those Paris Hilton types who brings the dog around with her in a little bag, since I can't depend on being home in time to take it walkies.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

A saying originated by someone who had perhaps only ever met one dog?

[connerybeagle.livejournal.com]

YES!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Yeah!

[amyirene-40.livejournal.com]

I was quite surprised four years ago to find out that I'm a cat person (who'd a thunk it? 46 years of ignoring felines, and suddenly I've got a herd of them). However I was raised by and live with a REAL dog person, so the number of dogs I've shared a house with at one time or another numbers into four figures. None of them were the same. Shoot, six week old puppies already have distinct personalities; by the time a dog hits adulthood, it is as different from other dogs as any one person is from every other person.

However I don't think that those who make that statement have met only one dog. They're people who've had a slight acquaintance with several dogs of the same type, and extrapolated from that ("My great-aunt Mildred had a succession of yappy little terriers that all looked exactly the same, therefore I know that all dogs are the same as all other dogs.")