Oh Cruella

~ MaryG

What villain actually had a good point?

I’m definitely going to lose some followers with this answer, but I think Americans are a bit too obsessed with their dogs. I’m not saying that Dalmatian puppies should be skinned and made into nice, soft fur coats like Cruella wanted, but…a coat like that would be real cute. You must admit!

With the red lining, this would be perfect for Christmas Eve. 😉

I feel positively villainous in dog-obsessed America, when I think these thoughts:

I don’t want your small, unleashed dog jumping on me and getting muddy paw prints on my white pants while you yell “Cupcake, stop.”

I don’t want your large, leashed dog—that you can just barely control—to cross the street to say “hello” to me because “Bodie loves people.” I’m good!

And I certainly don’t want your enormous Great Dane anywhere near me while I’m eating an ice cream cone!

Cruella De Vil in the original 1961 version of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians

24 thoughts on “Oh Cruella”

  1. I have four dogs but I do get where you’re coming from. Dogs aren’t accessories, and they shouldn’t be carried around hanging off their owner’s body 24/7. They deserve the chance to walk, explore, and just be dogs in dog-suitable-environments.

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    1. Four! Wow. I have a neighbor who literally hangs his dog off his body. He puts her in a baby carrier strapped to his front and takes her for a “walk.” The dog’s feet never touch ground outside. “She’s an indoor dog.” 🤦‍♀️

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      1. Back when I was a tiny college kid, a friend’s huge Labrador jumped on me, and I was terrified. This was long before my fur mom era. The funny thing is, that Labrador was an indoor dog and completely harmless, but I didn’t know that at the time.

        I grew up in the Philippines, where there used to be a lot of stray dogs, and rabies was a real concern. Because of that, I was always afraid of dogs. It’s only in more recent years that there’s been a much stronger effort toward animal control and responsible pet ownership.

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      2. An indoor LAB? How do you keep a big dog like that inside its whole life? The “indoor dog” in my neighborhood is like a chihuahua or something like that.

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  2. We have loved all our pets to distraction and they have all been spoiled beyond reason. That being said, I don’t want to be jumped and slobbered on either. Misbehaving pets have bad owners. Dogs want to please, it’s up to us to channel that energy in a good way.

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    1. We’re pretty far gone on this, I fear. My church’s Music Director was recently bitten by her neighbor’s German Shepherd (when she accidentally broke a glass in a hallway of their building) and the dog lives on. He had bitten before. And I’m sure will bite again. It’s ridiculous what is tolerated.

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  4. I try to be mindful of this when i’m out walking my dog, that not everyone is a dog person and in fact, some people are actually really scared of especially larger dogs. I tighten up the slack on the leash and even move off into the grass just to be out of the way.

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  5. I’m dog obsessed, of course, but aware enough to know my dog’s also a (lovable to me) monster and therefore am super considerate of others. Lately people in the area take their dogs out off-leash and though I can tell they are well-trained, I often end up taking shorter walks with George because of it. Everything needs etiquette and awareness!

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    1. That’s true. Off-leash dogs are a big issue for people who walk in the woods around here. I stick to the roads.

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  6. Of all the Disney villains, Cruella is the worst. Thought that as a child and still think that now. 😉

    Also keep in mind who wrote the original story: Dodie Smith, an English woman who, as many do in England, loved dogs, especially dalmatians. This is from Wikipedia: Smith … loved dogs and kept Dalmatians as pets; at one point …had nine of them. The first was named Pongo, which became the name Smith used for the canine protagonist of her The Hundred and One Dalmatians novel. Smith had the idea for the novel when one of her friends observed a group of her Dalmatians and said “Those dogs would make a lovely fur coat”.[12]

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    1. Oh interesting! NINE dogs. I never read the book, but I remember “Pongo” from the movie. So funny that her friend’s comment about a Dalmatian coat sparked the whole thing. I loved Cruella’s theme song in the movie. “She’s like a spider waitin’ for the KILL…look out for…Cruella…de VIL” 😉

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  7. I am with you on this. I have tried so hard to love dogs, but it’s not working. Even when I see these cute ones, my inner hands would want to reach out and touch them, but my physical hands dare not 😂😀. Please, if you have dogs…keep them very far away from me…thank you 😎

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  8. The ‘muddy paw prints on white pants while you yell Cupcake, stop’ bit got me — you’ve precisely described a whole genre of dog owner. The coat is where I get off the train, obviously, but the leash grievances? Fully justified. As a family that travels, we’ve noticed America really is an outlier here; in a lot of countries dogs are around but nobody assumes you’re delighted to have theirs launch at your ice cream cone. You said the quiet part out loud and I respect it.

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  9. I can understand your views Mary because that’s how I feel about cats! Especially when I tell people I have a cat allergy after I’ve entered their home n they do nothing!

    In my head I’m like “ could you please put the cat in the other room or even better outside!”

    “No I don’t want your damn cat on my lap or slinking around my legs leaving cat hairs for me to extract later!”

    ” And I really don’t want to share the sofa with your cat!”

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    1. Totally. So inconsiderate. Or when there’s only one chair for guests to sit and a cat is on it! It’s like…do I dump your cat on the floor or are you gonna do it? My Old World Italian grandmother believed no animals should live in the house with you. Her home was always spotless.

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