A few words on dogs...

"I know that dogs are pack animals but it is difficult to imagine a pack of standard poodles... and if there was such a thing as a pack of standard poodles where would they rove to? Bloomingdales?"
-- Yvonne Clifford, American Actress

"Of all the animals, surely the dog is the only one that really shares our life, helps in our work, and has a place in our recreation. It is the only one that becomes so fond of us that sometimes it cannot go on living after its master dies." - Fermand Mercy

Dogs Make You Healthier According to a recent study presented to the American Heart Association, people who have pets experience only half the increase in blood pressure under stress than those without a pet. It has long been accepted that the activity of stroking a pet lowers blood pressure, but this is the first time that simply having a pet has been shown to have health benefits to humans.

"Dogs are cherished members of their human families and valued members of our society. Dogs do much good in our world - they work as therapy dogs, companions and guide animals to disabled persons. Dogs save human lives and enrich human lives with their energy, love and devotion. Just ask any of the 39 million Americans who have a dog."
-- Response to NBC reporter Tom Brokaw's unbalanced report on dogs.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

George Bernard Shaw

Provide adequate stimulation for the dog: A bright working dog is a pleasure to live with, but it needs mental stimulation. Training the dog provides it with some stimulation, but it should also have other diversions. Exercise, walks, in familiar places where there is an opportunity to explore, contact with new people, or even just tagging along on chores and shopping expeditions will help to keep the dog mentally sharp and entretained. If you have a bright breed of dog and it shows behavioral problems, ask yourself whether the dog could be bored. It might be digging, chewing, jumping, and trying to escape from the house because these activities are more interesting than lying around all day waiting for you to como home.

I have found that when you are deeply troubled there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source.

-Doris Day, Actress

It is possible to drive a bright dog completely mad with poor handling. In a large household, many individuals of different ages and degree of attentiveness may share some responsibility for the dog. Under these conditions, the dog must often deal with a variety of confusing and inconsistent situations and instructions. Children, adolescents teenagers, and unobservant adults often don't know just how badly they communicate with dogs. A dog that is normally intelligent enough to figure out what is going on and seems to be functioning well may become quite stressed when confronted with impossible human damads.

by Stanley Coren in The Intelligence of Dogs (1994)

My Friends

By Samuel Hall Young

Two friends I have, and close akin are they,
For both are free
And Wild and proud, full of the ecstasy
Of life untrammeled; living, day by day,
A law unto themselves; yet breaking none
Of Nature's perfect code.
And far afield, remote from man's abode,
they roam the wilds together, two as one.

Yet, one's a dog-a wisp of silky hair,
Two sharp black eyes,
A face alert, mysterious and wise,
Ashadowy tail, a body lithe and fair.
And one's a man-of Nature's work the best,
A heart of gold,
A mind stored full of treasures new and old,
Of men the greatest, strongest, tenderest.

They love each other-these two friends of mine-
Yet both agree
In this-with that pure love that's half devine
They both love me.

from Alaska Days with John Muir (1915)

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