2020 pet magazine

Page 44 2020 PET MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS JANUARY 23, 2020 P eople will often consider themselves to either be a dog-person or a cat-person when it comes to pets. Sometimes, people will go so far as to claim that they actually hate the type of pet that they do not prefer, and they cannot be convinced otherwise. For some families, that means that one person “owns” the cat and someone else “owns” the dog. But where does this idea come from? What makes someone a cat-person or a dog-person? In the interest of full disclosure, my girlfriend and I have two dogs (Minerva and Brutus) and a cat (Lilith). They are absolutely part of the same pack, so to speak. When we met, I did not like cats, and she did not like dogs. But I cannot imagine the three of them not being together now. All it took was some learning and patience on our parts. People typically gravitate towards one pet or the other based on personal experiences. A person who grew up with a dog will likely hold the attitude that dogs are better pets. The same is true with cat owners. In a similar fashion, people who have had negative experiences with an animal will likely continue to avoid them. This can be incidental, such as a pet allergy or a frightening, such as a bad encounter with a feral animal. Either way, such a negative event can cause one to favor dogs over cats, or vice versa. To complicate matters, there are stereotypes surrounding dogs, cats, and their owners. For example, dogs are stereotypically thought of as loyal to a fault and sometimes a little too happy to see their owners when they come home. Dogs are frequently diagnosed with separation anxiety, and are assumed to be destructive if left unchecked for too long. Dogs are often labeled as noisy, especially when something moves outside and they can see it through a window. There are dog people, and there are cat people Continued Brutus and Minerva