There has - and always will be - a debate about whether cats or dogs are better. Like most people, I have a very strong opinion on this topic.

Dogs are better.

At least to me. I respect the opinions of others, cats are definitely cute and cuddly, but when it comes to my personal experiences, dogs rise quite a ways above cats. Let me explain my reasoning.

First of all, my mother is allergic to cats. So I never really got the choice to have one as a pet and I always got pretty jealous of my friends who had cats. But of course I’d rather have my mom be happy and not sneezing than own a cat. I had the ability to visit my neighbor’s cats most of my life anyway.

I also have a friend who owns a cat. Let me tell you, that cat does NOT like me. I’ll be sitting there, minding my own business and suddenly the little brat would attack my hair from behind the chair. Every time I tried to pet him my hand looked like a good chew toy. I’ve earned my fair share of scratches from that cat, and you’d think after being around that house almost every weekend for about 4 years it would learn to like me. Unfortunately it’s been a slow process, and he only seems to be around me when I’m asleep. What does that tell you?

This experience with a cat isn’t even the only one. Cats seem to overall not like me very much, and I don’t give them a reason for it. It’s hard to be a cat person when all of them hate you.

On the other hand, no one in my family is allergic to dogs. My family owned dogs from before I was born to my freshman year of high school. Those 14 years were wonderful. We had a big yard out in the country for them to run around and to play fetch. My dogs weren’t just pets, they were a part of the family.

In general, I love dogs for many reasons. They love you unconditionally and with all their being. They are so incredibly friendly, they love to be around you, and always have a lot of energy to have fun with. Of course not all dogs are super cuddly, but you can find one that will. We’ve all heard amazing stories about a dog saving a kid from a mountain lion or saving a person from a crash or sensing someone’s cancer before it got too serious. Dogs overall are just wonderful creatures and are incredibly loyal. There are mean dogs out there, but if you love a dog it’ll love you back no matter what.

The thing about cats is that you don’t always get that loyalty. They only like a select few people and that’s usually the people that feed them on a regular basis. Otherwise you can’t be trusted, and they’ll probably bite your fingers and scratch your hands if you go anywhere close to them. I don’t know about you, but I would like a pet who I can count on to not purposely try to claw my fingers off.

It’s true that every cat or dog is different and there are good and bad traits to both, but dogs will always have a special place in my heart, especially my two dogs, Rocky and Barney who deserved infinite more years on earth than they were given. I will always and forever, be a dog person.