Dogs vs. Cats

Okay,

So, I was just outside having a smoke with some co-workers (all men) and they were discussing the benefits of dogs. After listening to them tout how wonderful dogs are I piped up with "Yeah, but dogs are high maintenance." This came as a huge surprise that I would say this and they began to explain why a dog isn't such. But each of their reasons fell through when confronted with my infallible retorts.

I said that dogs were high maintenance because they were always in your business and could not entertain themselves. You have to entertain them. They replied that that's not true because dogs like to just lie there while you're there and be happy doing that. Okay... but how is that taking care of itself?

Think about it. You have to train a dog. They have to be taught to go to the door, scratch at the door, etc. when they need to go out and take a shit, otherwise they'll just crap all over the place. Cats don't require training and, in fact, they tend to ignore any training anyway. With a cat, you just show it the litter box and it says, "Oh okay, cool."

In order for a dog to be active, you have to pay attention to it. Otherwise it will sit there doing nothing but shedding, sneezing, farting, etc. It won't be sleeping, it will just be ... uhm... bored. You have to get it to do something. Cats, on the other hand, are much more independent and can entertain themselves. When they're not moving, they're asleep (or dead). Otherwise, they have places to be, bugs to catch, flowers to eat, furniture to scratch, etc. Now, if you can't let a cat be a cat and have to control what it does, then to you I can see where a cat would be considered "high maintenance." But that's really because you yourself are high maintenance too and require everything to be a particular way all the time. OCD anyone?

Yeah, this is one of those debates that will continue throughout eternity due to a little thing called "preference"... but personally I don't think the cats or dogs really give a shit what we think about them provided we don't piss in their rice bowls.

For those of you not into cats OR dogs... you're the smart ones. Snakes, ferrets, birds, hamsters, fish, etc. are all great pets in my opinion. Cat and Dog people find those pet choices interesting, ask questions and actually begin to learn something rather than fight over what's better... a cat or a dog. I am curious why there wasn't a Schrödinger's Dog though... or why Pavlov didn't try his act with Cats. Male dominated world, perhaps? Put the cat in the box with the radioactive substance and teach the dog to do what man wants it to do when it rings the bell. Oooh... then again, maybe those are machinations of the female mind... the destruction of independent thinkers and the subjugation and training of dumb animals.

Yes, I've managed to piss them all off now and therefore my work here is done. Have a nice debate. Toodles!

Peace (Or Not),
Jenna