Stereotype?

Here’s an interesting thought, if we have any honesty and self-awareness we will admit to stereotyping people. We don’t like it, but we do it. But how do we feel when people do it to us?

Today I was walking Pluto and Bess. We virtually had the park to ourselves and the dogs were full of beans; racing around, jumping on each other, barking and generally having an absolute ball. I saw a couple of people the other side of the park and I put myself in their shoes – two strong, ‘tough’ looking dogs (Rotty/Lab x and Staffy/Mastiff x), roaring around, barking and growling. I suddenly looked exactly like one of those people I despise – using strong dogs to make myself look bigger! I had become a stereotype!

Luckily we are known at our local park and there are a lot of knowledgeable dog owners that know that barking and growling in play is like kids shouting when they play – harmless. It is after all how dogs communicate. But if you didn’t know that, if you assumed all barking was bad and all growling was a precursor to an attack you might well have been wary of us. People also know how I feel about the scum that brutalise their animals to make themselves seem hard, or that train their dogs to fight, but still – how strange, that if you knew nothing about me and our beloved P & B you might think I was a hard nut with two scary looking beasts! Ironic then that they and I much prefer a hug to a fight any day of the week.

Maybe I should buy them pink jackets?