In some societies, the consumption of dog meat is viewed as part of their traditional or contemporary culture, while in others, the consumption of dog meat is generally viewed as offensive. Some support the right to eat dog meat and accuse others who protest against dog eating in non-Western countries of cultural supremacy and racism. Some cultures or individuals oppose the consumption of dog meat in countries that consume dog. They may perceive dogs as inherently emotional and friendly to humanity and/or argue that methods used in the slaughter of dogs for food are excessively cruel similar to cow, pig, and chicken slaughtering in the United States. In the Islamic and Jewish cultures, eating dogs is forbidden under Muslim dietary laws and Jewish laws of Kashrut.

Traditions of European consumption of dog meat exists, particularly in European Alpine countries including Switzerland. Traditional European preventative for tuberculosis is dog meat. Although there is a common misconception that European consumption of dog meat was limited to war induced periods of famine, that is not true. Dog meat is consumed in normal times as shown by traditional European recipes for dog meat. Several European countries, including Belgium, expressly allow dogmeat, like horsemeat and pork, to be sold in separate butcher stalls.

Dogs have historically been an emergency food source for various peoples in Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland. Sled dogs are usually maintained for pulling sleds, but occasionally are eaten when no other food is available.

British explorer Ernest Shackleton and his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition became trapped, and ultimately killed their sled dogs for food. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was known to have eaten sled dogs during his expedition to the South Pole. By eating some of the sled dogs, he required less human or dog food, thus lightening his load. When comparing sled dogs to ponies as draught animals he also notes:

"...there is the obvious advantage that dog can be fed on dog. One can reduce one's pack little by little, slaughtering the feebler ones and feeding the chosen with them. In this way they get fresh meat. Our dogs lived on dog's flesh and pemmican the whole way, and this enabled them to do splendid work. And if we ourselves wanted a piece of fresh meat we could cut off a delicate little fillet; it tasted to us as good as the best beef. The dogs do not object at all; as long as they get their share they do not mind what part of their comrade's carcass it comes from. All that was left after one of these canine meals was the teeth of the victim - and if it had been a really hard day, these also disappeared."

Douglas Mawson and Xavier Mertz were part of a three-man sledging team with Lieutenant B. E. S. Ninnis to survey King George V Land, Antarctica. On 14 December 1912 Ninnis fell through a snow-covered crevasse along with most of the party's rations, and was never seen again. Mawson and Mertz turned back immediately. They had one and a half weeks' food for themselves and nothing at all for the dogs. Their meagre provisions forced them to eat their remaining sled dogs on their 315 mile return journey. Their meat was tough, stringy and without a vestige of fat. Each animal yielded very little, and the major part was fed to the surviving dogs which ate the meat, skin and bones until nothing remained. The men also ate the dog's brains and livers. Unfortunately eating the liver of sled dogs produces the condition hypervitaminosis A. Mertz suffered a quick deterioration. He developed stomach pains and he became incapacitated and incoherent. On 7 January 1913 Mertz died. Mawson continued alone, eventually making it back to camp alive.

Consumption of dog meat is taboo in mainstream Canadian culture. Nonetheless, it is practiced by some cultural minorities. Under Canada's Wildlife Act, it is illegal to sell meat from any wild species. But there is no law against selling and serving canine meat, including dogs, if it is killed and gutted in front of federal inspectors.

In 2003, health inspectors discovered four frozen canine carcasses in the freezer of a Chinese restaurant in Edmonton which, in the end, were found to be coyotes. The Edmonton health inspector said that it is not illegal to sell and eat the meat of dogs and other canines, as long as the meat has been inspected. Ed Greenburg, an official with Edmonton's Capital Health Region, said the fact that the animals were coyotes doesn't change anything and inspectors are still looking into the possibility that uninspected meat was served at the restaurant.[citation needed]

Dog meat (Chinese: 狗肉; pinyin: gǒu ròu) has been a source of food in some areas of China from at least around 500 BC, and possibly even before. Mencius, the philosopher, recommended dog meat because of its pharmaceutical properties. Ancient writings from the Zhou Dynasty referred to the "three beasts"[cite this quote] (which were bred for food), comprising pig, goat, and dog. Dog meat is sometimes euphemistically called "fragrant meat" (香肉 xiāng ròu) or "mutton of the earth" (地羊 dì yáng) in Mandarin Chinese and "3-6 fragrant meat" (traditional Chinese: 三六香肉; Cantonese Yale: sàam luhk hèung yuhk) in Cantonese (3 plus 6 is 9 and the words "nine" and "dog" are homophones, both pronounced gáu in Cantonese. In Mandarin, "nine" and "dog" are pronounced differently).

The eating of dog meat China dates back thousands of years. Dog meat has long been thought by some to have medicinal properties, and is especially popular in winter months as it is believed to generate heat and promote bodily warmth. Also, dogs have occasionally been eaten as an emergency food supply.