It may be that the area you're currently living in is more backward in their treatment of dogs than some other areas. I don't know where in the USA you live but I can assure you that we're not all backward here.

I live in Central New York state and we've played for Morris dancers. It's actually quite popular in the northeastern part of the USA.

From observation, they dress up as big black rooks and dance around outside the Blue Note Cafe... and leave graffiti on toilet doors that says "Even snails leave a trail of stardust...", and that's in the gents apparently.

My daughter joined in some dancing with the Buck Mountain Cloggers, when we lived in the States. Really enjoyed it!

I've lived in North Carolina, and now I live in Texas.

Both very different

And both very different from the Northeast. I would guess you see even more prong/shock collar stuff in Texas? We don't see that much of it up here in NYS.

I want to comment, but don't want to offend more than I already have

Please feel free to. I just think that a lot of the UK doesn't really really how BIG this country is and how diverse it is. We have people who think women should still be in the kitchen and not work. We have people who think women shouldn't be allowed birth control and that divorce should be illegal. And we have people on the total opposite side. People come from all over the world to here, so it's really hard to say "it's an American thing."

Ah yeah... I haven't seen much of it - about 6-7 states and all of them deep south - but I know how it's illegal to teach evolution theory to schoolchildren in some places; how racism is still alive and well despitethe veneer of political correctness; and how it's still seen as good sport for young men to kill rattlesnakes to impress their girlfriends and parade them around in a pick-up truck at the local burger drive-in. Alcohol is illegal to be sold in some counties within states (and they can be as diverse in their byelaws as some states are from one another).

It's an interesting place, the USA!

And that is DEFINITELY deep south, the one area of the country I would never ever want to live (also not a fan of the midwest for similar reasons). You won't find that in the Northeast, the west coast, or even most of the east coast.

States and counties have a lot of power so things can be radically different from one to the next depending on what idiot gets into power.