Sometimes I just have to say, “what the fuck?” and the royal we doesn’t work as well. These are my thoughts—raronauer

Last year, the Aronauers got a new dog. Clint, a lab mix, is the one thing my family can talk about non-stop.

Pet owners and new parents share a heightened sense of what’s noteworthy. Deep down, I know Clint’s predilection for cat food and hiking is not fascinating, but to me, it's more interesting than the latest issue of the New Yorker.

But with Cyberfamilias “breaking” the story on Dogster, an animal networking site founded in 2004, I have an excuse to talk about him and what should be the limits of my obsession.

Like parent message boards, Dogster encourages people’s mania. Ted Rheingold, the founder of Dogster, admits as much:

It’s not weird at all. … All these people come for the same reason everyone else is on the Internet: they found people who are like-minded.

I'm sure lots of people on Dogster would approve of the anniversary party my family had for Clint over Thanksgiving break. The dog and I had a great time, but honestly, having a party for a dog is a Britney Spears move.

Social networking for dogs is strange. And just because 145,551 people on Dogster won’t admit it doesn’t make it any more normal.