I’ve noticed several times that cat people grew up in families that owned cats and dog people came from dog owning families. Over the years I’ve asked only half a dozen poeple about this but so far have found no exceptions. I would like to see if my theory is true by getting a larger sample by asking the folks here at the Straight Dope this question. So, are you a dog person or a cat person? And did you have a dog or a cat when you were growing up?
We had dogs and cats growing up. I’m a cat person. Dogs are just too needy.
I had both when I was growing up, along with tropical fish, a parakeet, and a boa constrictor, so I’m really more of an “animal” person. My college degree was a BS in Zoology. But if you asked me today, I would say I am definitely a dog person. My current dog, Milo, is a 13-year-old Parson Russell Terrier and was the only thing I demanded I keep from my divorce. I hope I die before he does, since I would hate to live alone without him, and I’m too old to start over with a new dog.
I’m definitely a dog person but I have also had more than a few cats and loved them too.
Cats are cuddly. Dogs are fun. (yeah, you can flip that but generally this is the case)
Growing up, I was a dog person. I loved dogs, and grew up having a pet dog (a mutt) which my parents adopted for me when I was four.
My parents then got my sister a cat when I was about 12, but I was still a dog person. As an adult, when I got married, I “married into” the dog and cat which my wife had, and loved both of those animals, as well as the second dog we adopted shortly after we married.
But, for the last 16 years, we’ve only had cats. I still love dogs, I still enjoy visiting with and playing with friends’ dogs, but I think I may be a cat person now. I adore our two little goofy orange housepanthers – we adopted them six years ago, and having them during the dark days of COVID was a tremendous boon.
There were a few cats while growing up, including the one I got when I was 15 who lived for 18 years, but my most recent — and most beloved — pet was a dog. I won’t have a pet again for a long time, but when I do it will be another dog (though I suppose I could wind up with a “stepcat”). I like animals in general, but definitely consider myself to be more of a dog person.
I’m a dog person. We had a few dogs in my family growing up. We did have one cat, and she was more attached to me than any other family member… She slept next to me, played with me, and so on. But, cats are cats, and while they can be affectionate they are also pretty standoffish.
My closest pet growing up was a dog named Mac, and he adored me. He was around me all the time, always wanted to sit with me and cuddle with me. I think it’s because when we first got him, he had been separated from his brother at the shelter, and I played with him a lot, and it’s like he imprinted on me as a substitute for his brother. He used to try to get me to come smell things with him and I used to always tell him, I’m not a dog, I am not going to smell that. (He would sniff something, run up to me, look at me expectantly wagging his tail, then smell it again, look at me, repeat.)
We currently have a dog named Addison. She is my wife’s dog, but I’m probably her best friend. We play all the time, and wrestle (she play fights with my hand), she likes to be chased, and she’ll kind of fetch toys I throw but prefers to play keep away with them. She is very snuggly and will usually lay pressed up against my leg on the couch. She’s very protective of my youngest daughter, to the point of crying if my daughter goes somewhere alone like in the front yard or garage, even though she’s just an 11 pound dog and scared of just about everything (even flies freak her out). She will insist on accompanying my daughter like a guard dog. But she treats my wife like my wife is her mom; wants to be held by her, wants to kiss her face, snuggles up against her neck, etc. She wants to be babied by her.
I get along with cats and dogs just fine, but I’m definitely more of a dog person.
We had both. I’m a cat person.
We had a cat when I was growing up. Now I actively dislike cats and am neutral to dogs. I love rats though.
We had both, I like both. Cats are easier though - usually cheaper to keep healthy, usually live longer, easier to keep in smaller urban spaces and I prefer scooping a litter box to picking up piles of loose crap on the street. Cats can be a little smellier to keep though - cat urine is utterly toxic.
I used to keep reptiles when I was young, but I’ve long since divested myself of them.
I’m very much a dog person, but my family had neither dogs nor cats when I was growing up.
We did have pythons, tarantulas, praying mantises, rabbits, mice, swallowtail butterflies, a strange skink, miniature chickens (never found out the scientific name,) and hamsters, though.
My parents had a dog when I was very young, I don’t remember it at all. But after that we always had cats. We got one cat when I was six and she lived 21 years. As an adult I’ve always had cats, never a dog.
Both, dogs rule though. You can run, walk, hike with dogs. Dogs can save your life. Cats will eat your remains and whine about it. 
I had no pets growing up.
Cat person. My husband adopted a cat.
I’m an animal person, and we had both cats and dogs growing up. However, for the last ten years or so, I’ve leaned towards Team Dog.
My stepson recently moved in, bringing his two cats, so it’s possible I’ll swing back to center again.
Dogs for sure. But my wife and my best friend are pretty equally split. We have two dogs now.
Oddly, cats LOVE me. When I go to my friends house, I always end up with a cat on my lap.
Dogs are needy, I will agree there. One of our dogs is more my wifes and one is mine. They picked us.
I’ve got to get my dog on a different schedule, he doesn’t understand why at 2am I’m still in bed. They have a dog door to go out when ever they please, but ‘my’ guy will sit by my side of the bed and do a very low whine.
This is going to change. We are in a new house new neighborhood so they are still getting used to there surroundings.
A mixture for me. We had a Doberman when I was very young. When we moved to Anchorage (I was ten) my parents got a Boxer. The dog turned out to be untrainable (after biting the landlord) and was put to sleep. After that it was always cats. When I first got married, I got an Aussie. Loved that dog. Had a couple more of them, but they never measured up. Back to cats. Then a dog and a cat. My present wife and I have only had cats over the last 30 years, although she had a dog at one point in her single life.
You have too small of a sample size. There are going to be very few things in life that have no exceptions.
We had cats when I was growing up but I’m a dog person. I like cats and wouldn’t mind having one or two, but I prefer the connection with dogs.
Cats and dogs growing up. Left to y own devices I’m a cat person-I need a cat in my life at all times. We often had a dog or two also when my kids were young and I loved those dogs too, but I gotta have a cat of my own.
I forgot to add, I had nothing to do with our family having a dog right now. My wife got a dog on her own, I learned we were going to have a dog when I came home from work and there was a dog there. She got it during Covid when she was no longer able to go into the office anymore, and didn’t want to be alone all day long.
(While my work had similar protocols, as IT support I was given an exception to go into the office frequently because I just can’t do everything I need to do remotely. I probably went into the office more than anyone else I worked with in that time period. Often, I was in the office to help facilitate distributing equipment to other people who did remote work, or fix their stuff that they brought in from home that was broken. IT people are expendable, clearly.)
So, the fact that we have a dog now has nothing to do with me. It has to do with my wife. And like me, she had both cats and dogs growing up, but also like me it was mostly dogs. She actually had a dog when I met her, but when we moved in together her dog couldn’t handle living in the new place, and then passed away years ago anyway.