Modern-Day Dog Culture

There is no doubt that people all over the world love their dogs, which includes Bollywood & Hollywood biggies.

Various cultures have developed some interesting obsessions and customs pertaining to their pets.

The current situation in India was explained to me by a Granny. However, owning an expensive purebred dog involves more than simply using it as a status symbol. As happens around the world the dog becomes a member of the family and therefore becomes a target for all of the family's cultural beliefs and practices. Given the importance of marriage in the Indian culture,

10 Years of Modern Dog Culture

Ten years ago, The Bark began to chronicle a growing societal movement, one we came to call the fashionable dog culture. Though we started the magazine as part of our advocacy for off-leash dog parks, we didn’t limit ourselves to that topic. And, as we tackled other dog-related subjects we noticed the emergence of a new way of living with dogs that enthralled and fascinated us. Taking “Dog Is My Co-Pilot” as our motto because it said so perfectly what we felt to be true, we began our exploration of this phenomenon.

From the beginning, we filled the pages of The Bark with smart writing, insightful commentary, great fiction and private essays, expert advice, humor, poetry, art, and far more. In short, we created a magazine that had everything we wanted to read and its canine-centricity inspired the best from our contributors and attracted thousands of like-minded readers. We have long taken pride in creating a digital journal that not only reflects the voice of its time but that also showcases the esteem we feel for dogs—it’s a payment of sorts on the debt we feel is owed them.

Dogs have been our best friends for millennia, but this relationship has undergone a remarkable transformation during the past few years as their role in our lives is redefined and expanded. Long our helpmates and trusted companions—valued for their “worthiness” by hunters, shepherds, and herdsmen as well as by the aristocracy with its pampered pups—dogs nonetheless occupied a place that was distinct and separate from that claimed by humans. The bonding was primarily viewed in terms of the degree of utility and value that dogs had to humans.

Today, dogs are more fully integrated into the fabric of our daily lives. Though their capacity to assist us is probably even more relevant now as we discover the complete range of their abilities, there's something else live, a special kind of co-species togetherness that goes beyond the functional. It is nearly a re-enactment of the dawn of our two species when proto-human and proto-dog helped one other along their evolutionary pathways.

Dog lovers are tending to the emotional needs of their dogs, enriching their minds, exercising their bodies, providing them with social stimulation, feeding them nutritious foods—in short, they are nurturing and caring for his or her dogs as true and equal relations. Even though we recognize and celebrate the “otherness” of dogs, we are also gratified to see that the distance between our two species is being reduced. This, in turn, makes us better able to treat dogs (and all animals) with compassion and respect.