Dogs are better than cats

Thank you, for your arguments. I am going to address them immediately since you mentioned that the real debating will start in round 2. My debate adversary claims that dogs sustain public health by making their owners laugh significantly more than Cats do. However, Pro does not provide any credible sources, supporting his shady statistics. Although he does mention the "National Institute of Health" it is unclear which Nation (Definition = of, relating to, or maintained by a nation as an organized whole or independent political unit: national affairs.) [1] does Pro have in mind. My opponents also provides me with 6 different quotes, apparently they come from elderly people which enjoy the presence of dogs but I fail to see how this quotes (again, without any sources to support they are actually real) make any real difference to Pro argument. If we substituted the word "dog" with "cat" in all of the quotes, they would still make perfect sense. Here, let's go right ahead and take one of the upper quotes and see the Cat-sformation "My Dog means everything to me - even more than my relatives do." "My Cat means everything to me - even more than my relatives do." See? No difference. Besides I once more wish to challenge the credibility of this quotes as they appear to be rather fictional and made-up or at the very least, exaggerated. I hope my opponent will be able to provide legitimate sources for all his arguments in the next round of the debate. It is hard to argue in favour of Cats without devaluing Dogs contribution to society in the areas you have mentioned. Dogs are indeed great workers, recognized by Police, Health institutions and many others. But that only proves my point. Dogs are in a lower social position to cats. As you gladly mentioned, cats don't work. It is because Cats are royal and high status animals and using them for work would be disrespectful. Furthermore, even if cats have the capability to work in some of this fields, they refuse to cooperate! Because they are self-aware of their own worth unlike dogs who don't value themselves and blindly submit their lives to human masters. Now, I will provide my own arguments. I have plenty but I will save the most important ones for future rounds. For now let's start with statistics, real ones for a change. Contention (I) General Statistics Across the US and Europe, there is more cats owned than dogs (83 Million Dogs - 96 Million Cats owned in United States alone - 2012) [2] What better argument Is there to prove my point if not the peoples preferences. As we can see (I can provide global statistic if you wish) Cats are clearly far more common within US households. Why may that be? If Dogs are better as my opponent clearly claims than why is there more cats than dogs within the US families? Well I know the answer. They are clearly better than dogs and many rational cat owners understand that perfectly. Contention (II) Personal Hygiene Cats are wildly known for their high standards of personal hygiene. Do you remember the time you took your dog for walk? Well, if the dog sees a mud pool he will most likely jump right inside of it. Dogs care little to nothing about how dirty they are or how dirty your house is going to be once you come back from work, or walk. Likewise, Cats value their own personal hygiene. Whiskas, a high profile cat food provider mentions this in their online page "Kittens are naturally clean animals, first learning from their mother how to keep themselves clean, then, after six weeks, taking care of grooming on their own. Though cats are mostly self-sufficient when it comes to hygiene..." [3] the same source claims that cats spend around 3,5 hours a day cleaning themselves. Can you say the same for the dogs? I don't think so. [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.htm [3] www.whiskas.com/CatsCorner/Article/Clean-Cats-Happy-Cats