1. Manjoo is being sarcastic when he makes the statement, while the presence of dogs in public has significantly increased, they haven’t literally taken over urban America. His exaggeration in this statement, is meant to highlight the change in how our dogs are included in primarily human activities and locations.
2. Manjoo’s objection to dogs seems to be their intrusiveness, slobber, and unpredictability. I think cats would fall into this category as well since they are extremely intrusive and unpredictable. One minute a cat is across the room, the next they are sitting on your shoulder licking you with their sandpaper tongue.
3. I, myself, adore animals, and I agree that it assumed that everyone does. People bring their dogs everywhere, and the crowd that forms around them is expected. Animal lovers seem to think, “how could you not love this cute little face.”
4.
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The dog bite statistic is included to prove the point that dogs are unpredictable. Even though I love dogs, when a strange dog approaches me, or my children walk up to a dog in public, I remember the scar on my best friend’s face. A puppy she had known since its birth, suddenly, jumped up and bit her when she was a child. I am constantly reminding myself to stay calm, and not to underestimate dogs that I do not know well. I also find myself frequently reminding my children to request permission to pet the dog, pay attention to the dog’s reactions to them, and to keep their faces away from the dog’s