Dogs serve as a kind of virtue eater for Americans to pour all of their kindness into without the risk of improving society or being nice to someone with any agency
(In a Werner Herzog voice) The perpetual references to Lassie in popular culture, an archetypal savior of the family and its children, positions the dog as an enforcer of the status quo. Beneath those watery irises is an endeavor to sequester the latent kindnesses of society into a furry, lovable vessel rather than allow individuals to direct it towards each other. Lassie is an evil, borne from our innate cowardice towards the prospect interacting with one's fellow man. Perhaps it is easier for the American to die than to reach out a hand in fellowship. Under the prevalence of canines, cruelty is a preferential morality.
[footage of police dogs is shown over the last few sentences]
in zis sense, we arr all little timmy, down hiz well
