Just Dog Is Good Enough
The popular philosophy of memes, especially those dismantling the patriarchy, can be a useful window into thinking about dogs.
By Kristi Benson, PCBC-A, CTC, Special Correspondent
I recently saw a meme that made me sit back in that delighted flavour of surprise that strikes upon the tidy resolution of something I’ve struggled, previously, to sketch the shape of in my mind. The meme, a screen shot of a Tumblr, said:
“All women are beautiful” is a cute sentiment and all, but it’s ultimately the wrong one. All women are valuable, all women are people, whether you can be generous enough to find unconventional beauty in their appearance or not.
To this, someone had added—and I’ll paraphrase somewhat for propriety’s sake— “All women are forced to live under an arbitrary and unfair system which sorts us into the categories of ‘Bangable’ and ‘Worthless’. The solution to this is NOT to expand the definition of ‘Bangable’.”
It is hard to exist comfortably in our world as a woman. We are bombarded with an enormous amount of negative messaging about our bodies and our choices. Nothing is really sacrosanct: our hair, our skin, our knees, our bellies, our muscles, our feet, our labia, our clothes, our age, our…anything. If it's possible for a woman to feel both shame about some imagined imperfection, and a need to purchase a service or product to rectify this imagined imperfection—you can bet your Chihuahua's pillow set that someone is speaking out and cashing in. And the not-so-secret finale: we are never good enough, no matter the depth of our shame nor the total on the invoice.
"As the disciplines of ethology and anthrozoology grow and the practice of animal-forward ethics matures, we seem to expand, more and more, what it means to be a Good Dog."
I have been lucky in my life, both professionally and personally, to have been blessed with mentors who have opened my eyes to the systems that oppress us in this way. This knowledge doesn't easily nor automatically counteract the damage we take from this constant exposure to a commons of shame, but it sure helps. In turn, I have tried to do my best to ensure the women around me know that they are of value. That they matter. That they are, in their very existence alone, worthwhile. But the reframing, in this meme, made me think about how we may try to rectify pervasive misogyny using just one dimension—appearance—rather than attacking the structure; rather than exposing and detonating the very foundation of it.
It also made me think about dogs (I think about dogs a lot, ok? Grant me the latitude). It made me think about how we triangulate a dog’s value and therefore ‘goodness’ based on their interactions with us. In my work with dogs and their guardians, I have heard a lot of stories about what a good dog is. A good dog is a dog who exists quietly within human structures, natures, and institutions. A good dog is one who expresses some, but certainly not all, of their natural behaviours. A good dog is a dog who endures endless restrictions, or endlessly intolerable interactions with the humans they share their homes with. A good dog is oddly responsive to even the most incoherent of training plans. A good dog is a dog in the corner; a good dog is in her ‘place’; a good dog is on leash but no pulling! A good dog is tolerable and tolerant. Quiet but brave. Beautiful but benevolent.
As the disciplines of ethology and anthrozoology grow and the practice of animal-forward ethics matures, we seem to expand, more and more, what it means to be a Good Dog. A good dog can be a dog who barks and pulls and expresses their normal behaviours (at the right time and in the right place). A good dog can be a dog who may snap the air if they are threatened (but not a dog who actually bites). A good dog might be scared, angry, or upset, but perhaps only at things that make sense to us…being scared of thunder is acceptable for a good dog. Being scared of a bath or the neighbour is not.
This act—making impermeable the borders of the nation state of Good Dog—can feel like such progress to those of us struggling to convince dog guardians that their dog, who might pull on leash or bark at kids, isn’t a bad dog. But I do wonder if there is value in picking apart the seams of this rather restrictively-fitting dichotomy in its entirety. A dog is a dog is a dog, with inherent value, whether any human in the picture can be generous enough to find unconventional morality in their behaviour or not.
All dogs are forced to live under an arbitrary and unfair system which sorts them into the categories of “Good” and “Bad”.
The solution to this is not to expand the definition of “Good”.
The “All dogs are good” sentiment might be cute and feel good, but it doesn’t deliver the real point: all dogs are dogs, and their value isn’t in some kind of transactionally available essence that we, as their human guardians, can reap.
Just dog is good enough.
