What Type of Dog are You?...

I promised some of you that I would write about how we are like dogs…wuff!

Some of you know me and how I like to use children and animals as examples to help reveal some of the convoluted rules and expectations we have placed on ourselves as adult women.

We all recognize that dogs come in different shapes and sizes…right? We have Bulldogs and Poodles…we have Chihuahua and Saint Bernards…to name a few extremes. We understand that a dog’s pedigree (meaning genetics) will determine what it will look like. We often will take a look at the parents of the puppy we want to buy to determine how that puppy will look as an adult. We would never attempt to make our Greyhound more petite like a Pekinese and bind its feet or train it to slouch to appear shorter. We would never put our Bulldog on a diet in an attempt to make him as slender as a Whippet. Even if we did we would just have a sickly looking bulldog!

For the most part we appreciate the differences in the dog world…not just in body styles but in athletic ability, intelligence and personalities too. Why do we lend a dog more respect and value in this manner than we do women?

Now take a moment and think about what dog best represents you…are you softer and bigger like a Pyrenees? Are you compact and athletic like a Jack Russell? Are you girly and giggly with big hair like a Poodle? I personally am a chocolate Lab…I’m not thin but am athletically sturdy. I have good muscle tone, learn quickly and like my snacks!

Once you have figured out what dog you are (maybe invest some time and look up different dog breeds online) then imagine that dog as your pet. How would you treat this pet? Would you put it on a diet right away, force it to walk/run mile upon mile to create more athletic lines, disdain certain qualities of its body, camouflage its flaws or hide it when company comes over? I doubt you would…but these are just a few harmful and undermining things we do to ourselves.

I know this is a silly angle to approach body image discontent from but when you get into it…it really makes you think. We are deserving of the same if not more respect as we give our beloved dogs….so give yourself a pat on the head and a scratch behind your ears and start appreciating your pedigree not fighting it.