Welcome to the first installment of “Ask Rossmom”, where people write in and my mother (yes, my actual mother) answers your queries about life, the universe, and everything! If you like it after reading this one, and want your own questions answered by my mom, write them to systemcomic@gmail.com, subject line “Ask Rossmom”. The first one comes from Jess:

Dear Rossmom,

I’ve heard you have an affinity for dogs. Could you please share your thoughts on Jimmy the murderdog? Does he represent a fear of dogs or a mistrust of animals? Why do you think there are muderdogs but no mudercats, muderrabbits, etc?

—Jess

Dogs are descendents of of grey wolves and wolves have a reputation as being carnivorous (think of Little Red Robin Hood); so, it seems like a natural progression.  I don’t think he represents a mistrust of animals.

A fear of dogs, well, no I don’t think that either; however, I can see how that could be an interpretation.  After all, dogs tend to go crazy at the sight of a mailman.  And, if you have a good watchdog, you’ll hear barking at the scent of a nearby stranger.  Even friendly dogs can jump on you to show their happiness at seeing you and I suppose that could scare someone, especially if you aren’t a dog person.  Hey, to carry it to an extreme, some people could be scared of dogs because of walking out of a room or house coated with fur–you never know. (I considered merely being frustrating.  However, I would never have considered giving up my dog because of its shedding.  Now, when it peed on any male who walked into the house, well, that I considered embarrassing, but still wouldn’t have considered parting with my dog.)

I think (although only Rosscott knows for sure) Jimmy represents an animal whose body can best fit pictures of guns and the name sounds a lot better than Jimmy the Murdercat or Jimmy the Murderrabbit.  Aside from that, cats would generally rather ignore you than attack you and a rabbit is thought of as a furry little adorable creature.

However, as I feel it is my responsibility, apparently there exists “leporiphobia”–a fear of rabbits.  It is rare, but it exists.  Not that this relates to that fear but rabbits “were considered rodents until 1912, when taxonomists put them into a separate family due to their unique teeth and diet.”members of the animal kingdom.

And, those are my thoughts about Jimmy.