Dogs Rule.

There is not much I love more in the World than my dog. You talk bad about my dog, or claim that it doesn't have value or ridicule me for my love of it, and you are assuring your opinions and credibility on any subject are suspect, if not ignored entirely. If you advocate harming my dog, or want to prevent me from having my dog, well, watch out. I'd like to use you for target practice in the next Daisy Cutter test.

So, it is not as if an article like this is surprising when it says:

In the past several years, mounting scientific evidence suggests that they (dogs) benefit us even beyond eager devotion. Numerous studies have shown that dogs -- one of the earliest domesticated animals -- can help lower blood pressure, ease the loneliness of the elderly in nursing homes, and help children overcome allergies.

Unfortunately, not all of the World feels the way I do. It is not as if the U.S. has nothing to be ashamed of in its resource allocation of funds for dog welfare, but, we certainly as a whole value dogs.

Some examples of people who don't (I'll leave it to you to find the common thread of those that don't):

From another blog, quoting from Irshad Manji's book:

Listen to the experience of a UCLA professor, Khaled Abou El Fadl. He knows a Muslim convert who was instructed by a mullah to ditch his pet dog. This convert found that no matter where he left the dog, it would straggle back to his doorstep. The man asked his mullah what to do with the dog who refused to be abandoned.

Starve it, the mullah replied.

I think this is a 'Dear Abby' kind of column:
As much as Muslims detest even the sight of pigs - it is the creation of Allah Taãla - and because Allah has placed life into it, we cannot inflict pain nor torture the pig.

Similarly Allah Taãla created the dog from among His creation. This does not mean that we should love the dog....On the contrary, we are instructed not to keep dogs as pets and 'love' them as exemplified by the non-Muslims.

A History of Dogs in Iran:

When the Iranians changed their religion to Islam (in about 1300 years ago) they changed their view about dogs as a "najess" (unclean) beings.

And it is not as if I am the first to be amazed at this dichotomy:

We are the nation of Benji, Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, Lady and the Tramp and Snoopy. Those who despise and wish to destroy us are the nations of: Oh, boy, there's a cute little doggy. Let's kill it!

As far as I am concerned, screw WMD, it was worth toppling Saddam just for what he has done to dogs, as noted by Kenneth Pollack:

"Saddam was something of a loner, famous for carrying an iron bar wherever he went that he would heat until it was white hot and then use to impale unwary animals -dogs, cats, whatever made the mistake of coming within his reach."

To be fair, it is debatable whether Mohammed really hated dogs as some claim, but, that really isn't the issue. The issue is that the Mullahs currently in power in many places DO hate dogs. And they are who we are up against and who hate us. So, it should come as no surprise that studies show that people exposed to dogs are calmer, and the culture that wants to harm us and expresses that hate in anything but a calm manner, happen to shuns dogs and teaches its followers to think they are unclean. The Mullahs seems to know that dogs are adored if people are allowed to bond with them, and they certainly can't allow that. Bonding with something other than Allah would hinder the control the Mullahs have.

Simple summary, if you don't like dogs, it is pretty near impossible I can like you. Nor do I trust you.