Very few people relish the idea of eating an animal they've developed a personal bond with. Because dogs are so common as pets in our culture, it's understandable that many would be squeamish about eating them. These attitudes are the result of the culture we've been born into or raised in and they vary widely from place to place.

In Peru, it's common for residents of the highlands to eat guinea pigs. Many African and Asian cultures use a variety of insects in their cuisine. In many East Asian cultures, the keeping of dogs as pets is a relatively recent phenomenon, so eating them was not considered taboo. Nomads of steppe cultures regularly ate horse meat. Typically, cultures learned to make use of whatever sources of protein were available to them.

Americans are in a very strange position because we have so little variety in our sources of protein. Most of us eat beef, chicken and ham, with occasional servings of fish. Meats like lamb, goat, and bison consumed less regularly. Americans are growing more adventurous in their diets, but many would still turn up their nose at the idea of eating things that are commonly consumed in other areas of the world. Maybe we're the outliers in this picture.