I've never eaten a dog but I suspect that I would rather have a bunch of dogs around me than a bunch of chickens. I like to eat chickens but they are a mess to have free range. The places that eat dogs do it as domestic livestock and don't raise them as pets.
To a certain extent, dogs could be used like pigs to recycle leftovers and the parts of other animals that are left over when you butcher. Like pigs, they are omnivorous and will eat most of the same things that people eat.
In a poor culture where people struggle to feed their people, almost anything may be considered as table fare. I would never eat my pets but if my family was hungry enough things change. Other dogs might start looking pretty good. Look up the expression "Hoover Hog".
Americans never experience real hunger and have the luxury of being picky about what is a pet and what can be food. In Texas, it is considered barbaric to eat horses but it is common in Europe especially France. Guinea Pigs are like pot-belly pigs and were domestic livestock long before Americans decided to make them into pets.
I remember when they settled thousands of Vietnmeeseboat people into where I lived as a child. In no time at all the stray dogs and cats disappeared. To them, it was as if there were chickens running free that nobody owned. Free MEAT Yahoo!