The snowstorm

I think the only people other than Flash fans (and a few other communities) who’d be offended by the Flash the most, especially if there’s a storyline involving the team defeating evil werewolf Caitlin Snow and her dogs, would be animal owners and wolf fanatics. I think the likes of Retrieverman would accuse the Flash staff of hating dogs because of such storylines like these despite contrary evidence (the same thing can be said of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, which got into trouble with both fans and PETA).

I think JJBA deconstructs why turning Caitlin Snow into an evil werewolf who uses her dogs would prove disastrous for one’s reputation. Even if somebody owns dogs itself, but if dogs are portrayed being abused it would be enough to ruin somebody’s reputation. Even if it’s justified in the Flash’s context because Caitlin uses dogs to kill people so others retaliate against them, it’ll still upset them.

I suspect if the Flash were to push that storyline, it’s going to rile up a lot of people especially with what’s being done to Caitlin and her dogs.

Catastrophic Snowfall

Like I said many times over, turning Caitlin Snow into an evil werewolf who uses her dogs and wolves to torture people only (and then get attacked by the rest of Team Flash) would have others wondering if the Flash staff hates dogs. Never that some of them own dogs themselves but it could be applied to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures when you think about it. That even got into trouble with both fans and PETA.

The same thing will befall the Flash should they ever push through a similar plot device and storyline. Somebody like Retrieverman would rant endlessly about how the Flash promotes dog abuse and how much the Flash staff hates dogs despite contrary evidence (same for JJBA). If I were to talk like a 4Channer, I’d stay he’d be really triggered by the Flash and consider it seriously problematic.

Because dogs are being abused and the Flash hates dogs (JJBA 2: Electric Boogaloo). Even if it’s not always exactly the case, that’s how controversial the Flash will be should it push through at all.

Much worse

Like I said, I think turning Caitlin Snow into an evil werewolf’s way worse than turning Iris West black to the point where it’ll not only anger Flash fans but also animal owners and wolf fanatics. Especially if dogs and wolves are depicted as evil only to be beaten up despite that two of the Flash staff own dogs themselves. Just like the author of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures a lot, to the point where he got into trouble with PETA and even some fans.

The Flash would find itself in the same position should it ever occur at all. Though wolves are increasingly depicted in a positive or neutral light, not when Caitlin goes evil when going wolf and using wolves and dogs to kill people only to be attacked themselves would be enough to anger a certain demographic. It wouldn’t matter if Flash actors do own dogs themselves, it’s the cognitive dissonance that angers them.

I think if these happen at all, this’ll be the Flash’s jump the shark moment.

The night before Halloween

Like I said, it would be way worse if Caitlin Snow ever became an intersex werewolf than making Iris West black. Not to mention possible storylines where she tortures her daughter by turning her into a cheetah (Fernand Khnopff reference*). Some would think the Flash writers hate dogs because Killer Frost uses dogs to torture people with and they (including her) in turn get attacked by people. (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures vibes.)

I could even imagine how seriously controversial it is, not only for Flash fans proper but also some animal owners and nature fanatics if because it portrays dogs and wolves in a negative light and have them attacked or defeated. Even if some of the Flash own dogs themselves (JJBA again). I swear if this happens at all, expect the controversy brewing.

*He’s the bloke who enjoys using his sister a lot in his paintings and some consider Iris to be Barry’s sister.

Corpse eaters

The idea that dogs are scavengers actually isn’t a new one, it’s even reflected in some mythologies. It’s just that some don’t want to bother considering it even if it happens anyways. Even dingoes (they’re sometimes considered truly feral dogs) eat corpses (and rubbish), especially beached whale corpses. Even wolves do it too. Even dogs will eat their own dead owners. Even if dogs/dingoes/wolves aren’t obligate scavengers the way vultures and hyenas are, they can and will eat corpses.

Given there are reports of how wolves have begun attacking livestock and even going so far to eat corpses, it shouldn’t be surprised if dogs did the same in the Holocene era. Especially due to inconvenient ways of burying though to be fair coffins weren’t made back then, making it easier for wolves/dogs to dig up corpses to eat them. Even today dogs still eat corpses.

Same for coprophagy which would’ve been even worse in the Holocene as sewage systems and toilets were nonexistent back then. Even today some don’t have toilets, let alone working ones at that so they poop in the open and dogs eat faeces. Even wolves eat poop so this shouldn’t be a stretch that dogs do scavenge every now and then as is hunting.

Dog myth (Google Books)

The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology – Page 173
https://books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=8120803868

Wendy Doniger, ‎Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty – 1988 – ‎Full view – ‎More editions
To the Indian, the dog is the most unclean of all animals, a polluted scavenger, the very image of evil; domestication has not served to bathe away his sins in the eyes of the Hindus. The Tamil Saiva Siddhantins, when referring to their …
Gods, ghosts and black dogs: The fascinating folklore and mythology …
https://books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=1845848608

Stanley Coren – 2016 – ‎Preview
The fascinating folklore and mythology of dogs Stanley Coren. The. Devil. seeing-eye. dog. black nose … The stigmathatdogs carried originated from the scavenging pariah dogs who roamed the cities and its outskirts, surviving ongarbage …
Forensic Taphonomy and Ecology of North American Scavengers
https://books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=0128132639

Susan N. Sincerbox, ‎Elizabeth A. DiGangi – 2017 – ‎Preview – ‎More editions
The meat of the matter: a rule of thumb for scavenging dogs? Ethol. Ecol. Evol. 28 (4), 427À440. Bankaitis, J., 2012. Examination of scavenging associated with wolves. … In: Binford, L.R. (Ed.), Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths. Academic …
Running Wild: Dispelling the Myths of the African Wild Dog
https://books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=1560987170

John McNutt, ‎Lesley Boggs – 1996 – ‎No preview – ‎More editions
Looks at wild dogs that roam the African savanna, and their social behavior, hunting techniques, and how they raise their young
Jersey Folklore & Superstitions Volume One: A Comparative Study with …
https://books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=1467005584

G. J. C. Bois – 2010 – ‎Preview – ‎More editions
118 Origins of the Mythical Wolf & Dog from Observations of Nature. Both humans and wolves scavenge the kills of others. Wolves may have learned that the kills of Palaeolithic hunters provided signiÀcant sources for scavenging, and lurking …
Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore
https://books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=0765680475

Josepha Sherman – 2008 – ‎Snippet view – ‎More editions
An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore Josepha Sherman … (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY) Judaism and Islam view dogs as unclean scavengers. … Legend ana Ouperstirions In modern folk beliefs, dogs generally appear as heroes.
Celtic Myths – Page 61
https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=NX7XAAAAMAAJ

Miranda J. Green – 1993 – ‎Snippet view – ‎More editions
In both Classical and Celtic myth, dogs possessed the complex but symbiotic symbolism of healing, hunting and death, derived from observation of the self-healing power of a dog’s lick, its scavenging habits and its role in hunting. Dogs played …
World of Myths – Volume 1 – Page 371
https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=7kTXAAAAMAAJ

Marina Warner – 2003 – ‎Snippet view – ‎More editions
In both Classical and Celtic myth, dogs possessed the complex but symbiotic symbolism of healing, hunting and death, derived from observation of the self-healing power of a dog’s lick, its scavenging habits and its role in hunting. Dogs played …
Handbook of Mesoamerican Mythology – Page 171
https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=cygbAAAAYAAJ

Kay Almere Read, ‎Jason J. González – 2000 – ‎Snippet view – ‎More editions
how dogs and turkeys killed the people of the second age because the people always beat them; those folk who … A number of stories exist today in which a coyote or fox discovers corn; after all, dogs and their relatives are great scavengers.
Animal Life in Nature, Myth and Dreams – Page 82
https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=KwIRAQAAIAAJ

Elizabeth Caspari, ‎Ken Robbins – 2003 – ‎Snippet view – ‎More editions
Like many animals, dogs will lick their wounds when they are hurt, and there is a widespread folk belief that a dog’s tongue (or saliva) has healing qualities. … The Greek deity Artemis, called Diana in Roman mythology, was the goddess of wild animals and childbirth. … Both consider it an unclean scavenger, ritually taboo.

Even if

I suspect that even if dogs aren’t obligate scavengers, it often and can happen especially if or when humans defecate in the open (especially if there aren’t any toilets around, let alone good ones at that) and can’t bury their dead well. (that’s without a coffin and gravestone to stop it though not always exactly so). If dogs do devour corpses, it’s often either in the open (they even eat their own owners), in rivers (they do this in India) or dig it up from a badly dug grave.

Keep in mind that open defecation’s still a thing as is burying the dead in inconvenient places and dogs will eat their own owners. The idea of dogs as scavengers of the dead’s even a thing in mythology, especially whenever they’re associated with the dead and underworld. This aspect, as brought up by the Coppingers, influenced old mythology a lot but for some reason gets downplayed in current attitudes. Somebody noted that dogs were even associated with treachery in Ancient Greece before.

This study’s called Shameless: The Canine and Feminine in Ancient Greece. If a dog’s caught dead wandering into neighbours’ premises, killing livestock and game animals alike as well as killing its own owners, then it shouldn’t be much of a stretch as territorial vigilance gives into loyalty. Might the Ancient Greeks be really keen on dogs’ sometimes nefarious tendencies? While this might be the case with only some dogs, let’s not forget that even if the Ancients did have sentimental feelings, it’s neither the norm nor is it consistently practised and believed.

You could own dogs but be sometimes bothered by them and be aware of their baser tendencies. Sometimes some dog owners aren’t that sentimentally close to their own dogs and some people are sentimental towards truly stray dogs. Alas it seems despite reports confirming what the ancients and even some scientists believe, it’s parsimonious to suggest that there’s a big generational divide between the Ancient Greeks and 21st people.

Maybe not always so but still substantial enough to sense a big shift in attitude.