August marks the month in which both National Dog Day and International Cat Day are celebrated. While many people focus on comparing the so-called dog and cat people, what does it mean if you have both cats and dogs? Is it possible to have an equal love for both types of pets? Are we really that different if we prefer one species over the other? This is a tail of two cities and, today, we’ll see what it all means; whatevfur your preference may be!
What Do The Numbers Say?
A recent Associated Press poll revealed that more people like dogs than cats. In a survey of just under 2000 people, 59% of whom were pet owners, 74% said they liked dogs “a lot” but only 41% said the same thing about cats. Only 2% of participants said they disliked dogs “a lot”, while 15% feel that way about cats.
Granted, that was a survey of 2000 people – certainly not representative of the entire population. However, there is still a widely held cultural belief that the pet species — dog or cat — with which a person has the strongest affinity says something about his or her personality.
One of the most comprehensive studies to-date looked at 4,565 participants who took the “Big Five Personality Inventory” and self-identified as dog people, cat people, both or neither. They found that dog people are higher in extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness and lower in neuroticism and openness. However, contrary to these findings, some failed to uncover differences between the two types and suggested the labels do little more than offer a different way of saying masculine or feminine.
What Does History Tell Us?
When we look at how dogs were brought into our culture, we see that, for the most part, dogs were most wanted for companionship. Whereas cats – after an initial stage of being a religious symbol and appreciated for their predatory behaviors that kept rodents at bay – went through a dark period of being associated with witches and witchcraft. Some still hold these associations for cats and are thus turned off from them.
It’s also been seen throughout history that both the social organization and communication between dogs is much more similar to humans than are those of cats. We can more easily relate to the appeasement/submissive behaviors of dogs and the more family-like structure of a group of wolves than we can the more solitary life of many cats.
Yet, when it comes to “intelligence”, history shows that it’s hard to make a claim for the superiority of cat versus dog or vice versa.
Is an Armistice Possible?
As long as the earth goes round, we may find ourselves split into two camps: dog lovers versus cat lovers. Cat people will go on to be stereotyped as quiet and sensitive, while dog people will be seen as outgoing and bursting with energy.
Does everyone conform to these personality traits based on their pets? Certainly not. And plenty of folks enjoy the company of both cats and dogs – including us! We’d love to meet both your feline friends and muttropolitan pups! We’ll treat them with equal love to a relaxing shampoodle and pampurring.