Black Lamb

Must love dogs

September 1st, 2013

BY GIL JOHNSON

Out of perverse curiosity, I recently Googled “A dog is man’s best friend,” trying to discover the origin of this old saying. After a good five minutes of following false leads on the Interwebs,
I never found the name of the proverb’s author, though I constantly bumped into a paraphrase attributed to Groucho Marx: “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend; inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”

The benighted sage who first uttered those words about canine congeniality had his genders confused. Clearly, as conclusively demonstrated by scanning the social media, a dog is woman’s best friend. Or perhaps, it should be “A woman is dog’s best friend.”

Recently I created a profile on the online matchmaking site Okcupid — strictly, harrumph, for research purposes, of course. What follows is a summary of my initial findings.

First, the photos, because let’s face it, men are visual and always check out the photos before reading the words. One of the most common photos in Okcupid ads is the obligatory glass of wine, usually set at a rustic table against a hillside in Tuscany. I was fairly astounded, as well, by the number of middle-aged women who have rafted the Colorado River rapids, explored Amazon jungles, climbed Mt. Everest, and survived skydiving. This could be a bit intimidating to the average schmoe who once made it to New Orleans for the Super Bowl or drove an old VW bus from Cleveland to Santa Fe. But for a seasoned world traveler such as myself, one who has read every book by Paul Theroux, these ventures fazed me not at all.

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Posted by: The Editors
Category: All Pets Issue, Johnson | Link to this Entry