Before you run me out of town, let me explain.
Perhaps "better" isn't the right word. Maybe "more popular?"
Or at least dogs have owners who are slightly more willing to take their photo and send it to the newspaper.
At last count, our Reader Pet Photo Gallery had 293 submissions. Among those submissions, we had more dogs than any other animal. I know, because I counted them.
No, it doesn't mean that dogs are better than cats. Or that cats are better than rats.
Or that degus are better than cows.
I counted each submission by its content. So there are actually many more dogs than I counted because some photos had two or three. Same with the cats. And the chinchillas.
The only time a photo was counted more than once was if it had more than one type of animal in it. I may be off by a few cats or dogs in either direction, so you can double-check if you want. But I don't think anyone will.
Here's the breakdown:
Dogs — 186 (63%)
Cats — 92 (29%)
Birds — 9
Rodents — 6 (and I checked to make sure that degus and chinchillas are rodents)
Horses — 2
Lizards — 2
Cows — 1
I think we can all agree that we love our pets. And we can also agree that few are as unique as Old Man:
Remember, you'll find many more lovely pets in our social media stream.
