If You Judge Someone For Not Liking Dogs, Here's What It Says About You

In the era of dog moms, “dog dads” and “fur babies,” admitting you don’t like dogs is only for the brave.

Disinterested in cats? No one cares, they’re weird and function well as loners anyway. But if you don’t like dogs and go so far as to say it in public or online, be prepared to get excoriated.

That’s in part because so many of us live with dogs and see them as an integral part of our lives. As of 2022, 44.5% of U.S. households include dogs, and about half of those people consider their pets a part of their family, according to a 2023 Pew survey.

Culturally, we assume that having a dog suggests a sort of inherent goodness in its owner and dock morality points off someone who doesn’t like dogs. Think of how many times in the last few years you’ve heard any of the following:

• “I can’t trust someone who doesn’t like dogs.”
• “I like dogs more than I like people.”
• “We don’t deserve dogs.”
• “If my dog doesn’t like you, I don’t like you.”
• “Must love dogs” written a dating app

“People believe that someone who has a good relationship with a dog must be a good person, because they believe animals can judge character,” Andrew Hager, director at the Presidential Pet Museum, told HuffPost in 2019 in a story on why we expect presidents to own dogs. (Own them, not shoot them. Sorry, Kristi Noem.)

“You see this play out all the time in movies, where dogs growl at the bad guy,” Hager said.

The moral weight we attach to an appreciation for dogs plays out on dating apps, too: Profiles with a dog in the profile picture are statistically more likely to get matches and messages than profiles without a dog pictured.

“The exact reason for this phenomenon is unknown, but it seems that people may associate having a dog with caregiving,