At the risk of angering every animal rights advocate, I have to disagree with the hubbub surrounding Verizon’s new Dare TV commercial. This commercial isn’t advocating chaining or mistreating dogs. It merely wants to characterize a potentially dangererous situation and how many times has the vicious junkyard dog been used to portray danger in arts and film? If anything, the commercial probably does a bit of canine profiling, unfairly characterizing junkyard dogs.

But if you think about it, many breeds of dogs have been unfairly profiled to a point that if you owned one of that breed, you probably wouldn’t recognize your own pet in it: the snooty pure-bred Poodle, the hyper Jack Russell, the come-to-the-rescue collie or the patient brown lab. I am certain around the world there has to be a down-to-earth poodle, a mellow Jack Russell, a lazy collie that could care less and a grouchy brown lab.

And yes, we as a society have mischaracterized pit bulls as dangerous animals, when in fact the owners are usually the dangerous ones. I know there are sweet pit bulls that have been trained, loved and properly cared for.

It seems to me that perhaps people’s disgust at Verizon is misdirected. Perhaps they should be out fighting against the junkyard dog stereotype. C’mon, how many other times have you seen dogs portrayed in broad generalized fashions? Think Tom Hanks in “Turner & Hootch.” What about the nightmare dog that haunted the kids in “Sandlot I” and “Sandlot II” with James Earl Jones? And woe to the poor German Shepherds and Dobermans in TV and film that growl and bare their teeth to evoke fear?

Yes, even my dog Daisy has been the subject of canine profiling. West Highland Terriers are often those cute white-as-the-driven snow creatures that look so cuddly. Daisy hasn’t been white as the driven snow since the day she was born.