"They straddle a line between self and other (in the ways we have 'humanised' them, yet use them as objects). If I tell you someone has a pet pitbull, you might make assumptions about this person–very different from the assumptions you'd make about an acquaintance with a Yorkshire terrier. Breeds have accrued associations, from their presence in popular culture, to their phenotype, to our familiarity with them in daily life. Simply owning a dog is an exercise in expressing our cultural values, as our furry totem reflects them to the world."
Katrina Gulliver at Aeon discusses the "semiotics of dog ownership."
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