I love this question b/c I can hardly even remember what life was like before becoming part of a dog culture, and yet I'm very new to the BP community. In my experience, which is really limited, my BP community is an online community so far, while my dog community is and has always been "live." But I just came back to snakes after a 30+ year detour, and though everyone in my acquaintance knows I'm a dog person, very few people know I have a soft spot for snakes. I guess I can't give you much of an answer, OP, except to say that every time I meet a group of people with similar interests, I find my life is a lot richer for it. Welcome aboard.