This was a story that was published by The Dodo last November 18th. It is a delightful account of an ex-rescue dog who is now in loving hands.
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Pregnant Rescue Dog Gets The Ultimate Maternity Shoot
“Lily Mae was born to model” 📸
By Lily Feinn
Published on the 13th November, 2020
Ryan Fant was out for a walk in a park in Little Rock, Arkansas, when he spotted a beautiful golden retriever running around without a collar. He approached the dog and started to play with her. When she began to follow him home, Fant decided to take in the lost dog and name her Lily Mae.
After a month of searching for her owner without luck, Fant decided to make Lily a permanent part of his family. But he soon noticed that the once-skinny dog’s stomach was growing … and growing.
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A vet confirmed that Lily Mae was pregnant, so Fant reached out to his friend Caitie Evers for help. With years of experience fostering new dog mamas and their pups, Evers was the perfect person to help Lily through this difficult time.
When Lily arrived, Evers was surprised that her growing belly didn’t seem to slow her down one bit. “She acts totally normal and makes me nervous with her running and jumping,” Evers told The Dodo. “She is a total sweetheart. She is a stage five clinger who prefers to be in my lap every moment.”
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With Lily’s due date just days away, Evers decided to get the word out about her puppies. And what better way to make the announcement than with an adorable maternity photo shoot?
“I have fostered a lot of pregnant dogs and new mama dogs and I have always said I wanted to do a photo shoot for them to gain attention for the foster/rescue dogs of the world,” Evers said. “So many people are amazed when they realize she is a rescue dog. I think it’s important to get the information out there that you can really truly find every single type of dog in rescue.”
SHAUNA KIELY PHOTOGRAPHY
She contacted her photographer friend and fellow rescuer Shauna Kiely, and the two set up the photo shoot for the very next day. Lily was excited to be the center of attention and get special hugs from Evers.
SHAUNA KIELY PHOTOGRAPHY
“Lily Mae was born to model,” Evers said. “She loved it and it only took like 30 minutes total!”
SHAUNA KIELY PHOTOGRAPHY
Two days later, Lily went into labor and gave birth to eight perfect puppies. Mama and the seven boys and one girl are all happy and healthy — thanks to the loving rescuer who saved them from the street and their kind foster mom.
“They are chunky babies at already almost a pound each,” Evers said. “They are doing wonderful and are healthy and active. Mom snuggles them and loves them but is also trusting me to care for them all. She allows me to change their bedding but if I take too long she’ll start putting them back on her own.”
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Once the babies are weaned, they will be available for adoption through the Houston-based rescue Chip N Snip, and Lily Mae will return to Arkansas to live with her dad. But, for now, the only thing Lily Mae cares about is being the best mom she can be.
To stay up-to-date on Lily Mae and her puppies’ journey, you can follow them on Instagram. If you’re interested in adopting one of Lily Mae’s puppies and live in a 3-hour radius of Houston, you can reach out to Chip N Snip here.
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We know totally the special joy and companionship that comes from dogs who had a rough start to their lives.
Oh how much we would like to adopt a couple of the darling puppies. But firstly we are trying to be strict in not weakening our resolve not to have more dogs and, secondly, we are thankfully more that three hours radius from Houston.
It really is delightful when someone comes along and reliably offers to submit a guest post or two, or three, or more. That person is John Brooks and he has submitted many posts; the last one being Ageing Gracefully Applies To Our Dogs As Well. It may be found here.
But before going on I would just like to say thank you to the very helpful comments about Pedi and his diabetes.
So without any further ado here is John’s latest:
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Pigs, Dogs, and Other Pets: Do They Get Along?
By John Brooks, December 3rd, 2020
Pigs are extremely intelligent animals, and this intelligence makes them great, loving and attentive pets. Most people opt for American miniature pigs as pets. This breed is a descendant of potbelly pigs and other small feral pig breeds. Breeders have specifically created miniature pigs to be smaller and lighter than full-sized pigs, so they can trot around the house like a dog or cat would. Most American miniature pigs will weigh between 50-75 pounds and stand 12-15-inches tall.
Ultimately however, it does not matter whether you have a full-sized or miniature pig, their ability to interact with other animals remains the same. Bringing a pig into a situation with other pets or bringing home a new pet when you already have a pet pig can be a stressful time. Pigs are prey animals. They typically react to new situations with fear.
But, you can cut down on your pet pig stress by choosing the right companion animal for them. Pigs can get along with other pets, you just need to make the introduction and relationship as safe and healthy as possible. Here we explain how to do just that.
Pigs and Dogs
Pigs and dogs living together in harmony is a big concern for most pet owners. There are plenty of photos online of pigs and dogs as best friends. But, do not count on your pig and dog getting along. Pigs are prey animals and dogs are predators. It is very easy for instinct to take over for both animals, especially if you are not there to supervise the interaction.
In addition to their instinctual behaviors, pigs and dogs have different social cues. Both are playful and intelligent animals, but their body language will be completely different. Your pig may annoy your dog and vice versa because they are unable to understand that the other animal needs a break.
These complications do not mean a pig and dog can get along. You just have to take precautions. If you do have a dog and pig together in the same household, it is essential that you supervise all of their interactions. Ultimately, if you are going to let your piggy roam free, your dog will need to be in a crate while you do so, or in another room or outside.
Pigs and Other Pets
As far as other pets are concerned, pigs will do well with almost any other prey animal. If you are searching for a friend for your piggy, here are the most common pig and pet relationships, and tips for making these relationships work:
Cats
In general, pigs and cats do well together. Despite cats being predators, the website All About Cats state that pigs have similar personality traits to cats. Additionally, cats are much less likely to hurt a pig than a dog. Even miniature pigs weigh from 50-100 pounds. It will be very hard for a common housecat to injure this size animal.
As with all animals, you will need to ensure the personalities of your cat and pig work well together. A lazy cat and playful pig will not be a good combination. However, a cat and pig with complementary personalities will likely get along just fine.
Farm Animals
Personality will come into play when introducing pigs to other farm animals. Animals that tend to buck or head-butt can hurt a pig. Similarly, pigs can bite if they feel threatened. Always test out a farm animal with a pig under supervision before putting them in a pasture together.
Farm animals that work well with pigs include sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, horses, and llamas. Obviously, you will need a lot of property to house any of these animals. Pigs work well in the same pasture as other farm animals, but it is better to give them their own living quarters in a barn or lean-to.
Conclusion
Pigs can be an amazing pet. They are trainable and affectionate. You can even teach them to walk on a harness. But, you will need to take some care in finding them a friend. Pigs can become close to many different species of animals. Some just work better than others.
Keep the personality of your pig in mind when looking for a companion. You will also want to keep early interactions short. Finally, supervision is key when it comes to successful relationships between your pig, dog, and other pets.
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Another brilliant essay.
Thank you to John and I write on my own behalf and, I am certain, on behalf of many, many other people.
Fences have big effects on land and wildlife around the world that are rarely measured
November 30, 2020
By Alex McInturff, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California Santa Barbara,
and
Christine Wilkinson, Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley,
and
Wenjing Xu, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley.
What is the most common form of human infrastructure in the world? It may well be the fence. Recent estimates suggest that the total length of all fencing around the globe is 10 times greater than the total length of roads. If our planet’s fences were stretched end to end, they would likely bridge the distance from Earth to the Sun multiple times.
On every continent, from cities to rural areas and from ancient to modern times, humans have built fences. But we know almost nothing about their ecological effects. Border fences are often in the news, but other fences are so ubiquitous that they disappear into the landscape, becoming scenery rather than subject.
In a recently published study, our team sought to change this situation by offering a set of findings, frameworks and questions that can form the basis of a new discipline: fence ecology. By compiling studies from ecosystems around the world, our research shows that fences produce a complex range of ecological effects.
If fences seem like an odd thing for ecologists to study, consider that until recently no one thought much about how roads affected the places around them. Then, in a burst of research in the 1990s, scientists showed that roads – which also have been part of human civilization for millennia – had narrow footprints but produced enormous environmental effects.
Our research team became interested in fences by watching animals. In California, Kenya, China and Mongolia, we had all observed animals behaving oddly around fences – gazelles taking long detours around them, for example, or predators following “highways” along fence lines.
We reviewed a large body of academic literature looking for explanations. There were many studies of individual species, but each of them told us only a little on its own. Research had not yet connected the dots between many disparate findings. By linking all these studies together, we uncovered important new discoveries about our fenced world.
Early advertisement for barbed wire fencing, 1880-1889. The advent of barbed wire dramatically changed ranching and land use in the American West by ending the open range system. Kansas Historical Society, CC BY-ND
Remaking ecosystems
Perhaps the most striking pattern we found was that fences rarely are unambiguously good or bad for an ecosystem. Instead, they have myriad ecological effects that produce winners and losers, helping to dictate the rules of the ecosystems where they occur.
Even “good” fences that are designed to protect threatened species or restore sensitive habitats can still fragment and isolate ecosystems. For example, fences constructed in Botswana to prevent disease transmission between wildlife and livestock have stopped migrating wildebeests in their tracks, producing haunting images of injured and dead animals strewn along fencelines.
One finding that we believe is critical is that for every winner, fences typically produce multiple losers. As a result, they can create ecological “no man’s lands” where only species and ecosystems with a narrow range of traits can survive and thrive.
Altering regions and continents
Examples from around the world demonstrate fences’ powerful and often unintended consequences. The U.S.-Mexico border wall – most of which fits our definition of a fence – has genetically isolated populations of large mammals such as bighorn sheep, leading to population declines and genetic isolation. It has even had surprising effects on birds, like ferruginous pygmy owls, that fly low to the ground.
Australia’s dingo fences, built to protect livestock from the nation’s iconic canines, are among the world’s longest man-made structures, stretching thousands of kilometers each. These fences have started ecological chain reactions called trophic cascades that have affected an entire continent’s ecology.
The absence of dingoes, a top predator, from one side of the fence means that populations of prey species like kangaroos can explode, causing categorical shifts in plant composition and even depleting the soil of nutrients. On either side of the fence there now are two distinct “ecological universes.”
Our review shows that fences affect ecosystems at every scale, leading to cascades of change that may, in the worst cases, culminate in what some conservation biologists have described as total “ecological meltdown.” But this peril often is overlooked.
The authors assembled a conservative data set of potential fence lines across the U.S. West. They calculated the nearest distance to any given fence to be less than 31 miles (50 kilometers), with a mean of about 2 miles (3.1 kilometers). McInturff et al,. 2020, CC BY-ND
To demonstrate this point, we looked more closely at the western U.S., which is known for huge open spaces but also is the homeland of barbed wire fencing. Our analysis shows that vast areas viewed by researchers as relatively untrodden by the human footprint are silently entangled in dense networks of fences.
Do less harm
Fences clearly are here to stay. As fence ecology develops into a discipline, its practitioners should consider the complex roles fences play in human social, economic and political systems. Even now, however, there is enough evidence to identify actions that could reduce their harmful impacts.
There are many ways to change fence design and construction without affecting their functionality. For example, in Wyoming and Montana, federal land managers have experimented with wildlife-friendly designs that allow species like pronghorn antelope to pass through fences with fewer obstacles and injuries. This kind of modification shows great promise for wildlife and may produce broader ecological benefits.
Another option is aligning fences along natural ecological boundaries, like watercourses or topographical features. This approach can help minimize their effects on ecosystems at low cost. And land agencies or nonprofit organizations could offer incentives for land owners to remove fences that are derelict and no longer serve a purpose.
Knowing this, we believe that policymakers and landowners should be more cautious about installing fences in the first place. Instead of considering only a fence’s short-term purpose and the landscape nearby, we would like to see people view a new fence as yet another permanent link in a chain encircling the planet many times over.
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This is something that I hadn’t hitherto thought about. I suspect that I am not alone.
There are many aspects of the fence that warrant more careful thought. I will close by repeating what was said just a few paragraphs above:
There are many ways to change fence design and construction without affecting their functionality. For example, in Wyoming and Montana, federal land managers have experimented with wildlife-friendly designs that allow species like pronghorn antelope to pass through fences with fewer obstacles and injuries. This kind of modification shows great promise for wildlife and may produce broader ecological benefits.
Another option is aligning fences along natural ecological boundaries, like watercourses or topographical features. This approach can help minimize their effects on ecosystems at low cost. And land agencies or nonprofit organizations could offer incentives for land owners to remove fences that are derelict and no longer serve a purpose.
I am not saying anything new but just reiterating what has been said before: 2020 is going to go down as the year from hell! And I don’t think that is too strong a word!
Part of it are the news stories that sweep the world: Covid-19; Brexit; Climate change; up until yesterday what was President Trump going to do in his last few weeks; etc; etc.
Also part of it is the way that news and more news and, yes, more news is flashed around the globe. Most of it bad news as we all know that bad news sells!
Finally, part of it is the new world of social media especially messaging on a smartphone. President Trump isn’t the only one to communicate greatly via Twitter.
Now, speaking personally, I couldn’t have got through this year without Jeannie and our dogs.
Pure bliss!
But, nevertheless, something has changed and Mark Satta has written an article that tries to explain things.
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Three reasons for information exhaustion – and what to do about it
By Mark Satta, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wayne State University.
November 18th, 2020
An endless flow of information is coming at us constantly: It might be an article a friend shared on Facebook with a sensational headline or wrong information about the spread of the coronavirus. It could even be a call from a relative wanting to talk about a political issue.
All this information may leave many of us feeling as though we have no energy to engage.
As a philosopher who studies knowledge-sharing practices, I call this experience “epistemic exhaustion.” The term “epistemic” comes from the Greek word episteme, often translated as “knowledge.” So epistemic exhaustion is more of a knowledge-related exhaustion.
It is not knowledge itself that tires out many of us. Rather, it is the process of trying to gain or share knowledge under challenging circumstances.
Currently, there are at least three common sources that, from my perspective, are leading to such exhaustion. But there are also ways to deal with them.
1. Uncertainty
For many, this year has been full of uncertainty. In particular, the coronavirus pandemic has generated uncertainty about health, about best practices and about the future.
Experiencing uncertainty can stress most of us out. People tend to prefer the planned and the predictable. Figures from 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes to 20th-century Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein have recognized the significance of having certainty in our lives.
With information so readily available, people may be checking news sites or social media in hopes of finding answers. But often, people are instead greeted with more reminders of uncertainty.
As Trump supporters denounce the 2020 election results, feelings of uncertainty can come up for others. Karla Ann Cote/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Many writers have discussed the negative effects of polarization, such as how it can damage democracy. But discussions about the harms of polarization often overlook the toll polarization takes on our ability to gain and share knowledge.
Second, polarization can lead to competing narratives because in a deeply polarized society, as studies show, we can lose common ground and tend to have less agreement.
For those inclined to take the views of others seriously, this can create additional cognitive work. And when the issues are heated or sensitive, this can create additional stress and emotional burdens, such as sadness over damaged friendships or anger over partisan rhetoric.
As chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov put it: “The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
Misinformation is often exhausting by design. For example, a video that went viral, “Plandemic,” featured a large number of false claims about COVID-19 in rapid succession. This flooding of misinformation in rapid succession, a tactic known as a Gish gallop, makes it challenging and time-consuming for fact checkers to refute the many falsehoods following one after another.
What to do?
With all this uncertainty, polarization and misinformation, feeling tired is understandable. But there are things one can do.
The American Psychological Association suggests coping with uncertainty through activities like limiting news consumption and focusing on things in one’s control. Another option is to work on becoming more comfortable with uncertainty through practices such as meditation and the cultivation of mindfulness.
To deal with polarization, consider communicating with the goal of creating empathetic understanding rather than “winning.” Philosopher Michael Hannon describes empathetic understanding as “the ability to take up another person’s perspective.”
As for limiting the spread of misinformation: Share only those news stories that you’ve read and verified. And you can prioritize outlets that meet high ethical journalistic or fact-checking standards.
These solutions are limited and imperfect, but that’s all right. Part of resisting epistemic exhaustion is learning to live with the limited and imperfect. No one has time to vet all the headlines, correct all the misinformation or gain all the relevant knowledge. To deny this is to set oneself up for exhaustion.
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That last section, What to do?, is full of really sensible advice. In fact, the American Psychological Association has an article at the moment that appears to be freely available called Healing the political divide.
I intend to read it.
It finishes up saying:
Scientists must strive to share their research as broadly as possible. And they don’t have to do it alone. Organizations like More in Common work to conduct research and communicate findings to audiences where it can have the greatest impact.
Advocacy is essential as well. Other countries that have made strides in addressing the political divide relied heavily on government-led reconciliation efforts. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for example, in South Africa, has been fundamental in addressing disparities and conflict around Apartheid.
Were the United States to consider similar, government-backed efforts, psychologists must be part of the call to do so. And the behavioral expertise of the field would be central to success.
“The collective mental health of the nation is at risk,” says Moghaddam. “Just as we should rely on epidemiological science to tell us when there is a vaccine ready for mass use, we have to rely on psychological science to guide us through these mental health issues.”
And following an election that, for many, has felt like the most polarized of a lifetime, this piece seems critical. “ This is what our profession is all about,” says Moghaddam.
Good advice especially if you can take time off just losing oneself in nature.
Dawn behind nearby Mt. Sexton. Taken from our deck on the 21st August, 2019.
Ancient genomes reveal the common history of human and dog.
At the end of October, 2020 Science magazine published an article about the evolutionary genetics of humans and dogs.
I am not allowed to republish the full text, despite being an AAAS member, but I am sure that selected quotes will be alright.
The article was written by Pavlos Pavlidis and Mehmet Somel.
Dogs likely evolved from a wolf population that self-domesticated, scavenging for left-overs from Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in Eurasia. However, the exact timing and geographic location where the dog lineage started remain unknown, owing to the scarcity of Palaeolithic dogs in the archaeological record. Analyses of genetic data suggest that dog-wolf divergence took place ~25,000 to 40,000 years ago, providing an earliest possible date for dog domestication.
The last paragraph in the short article is as follows:
For example, there is evidence that pigs were domesticated in both Anatolia and China. For dogs, however, the story is different. Dogs and modern-day Eurasian grey wolves appear as monophyletic groups; that is, any dog is genetically closer to another dog than to a wolf, and vice versa, Monophyly supports a single origin of dogs from a possible extinct wolf lineage.
Absolutely fascinating!
A couple of photographs, courtesy of Pexels, to close the piece.
First of all I must again thank Pexels for providing these photographs. They are from a grouping called Man’s Best Friend.
This is the theme. That dogs are our closest and longest animal companions by far. Indeed, the era that humans befriended wolves is so long ago that an exact time is far from settled. Here’s a piece in the August 2020 issue of Scientific American magazine:
In the 14,000 to 40,000 years during which this domestication process occurred, wild wolves were probably doing better than dogs in terms of numbers – after all, our dogs were probably another food source for humans when times became lean. The first written record of a wolf hunt was recorded in the sixth century B.C.E., when Solon of Athens offered a bounty for every wolf killed.
So in all these photographs today there is a human with the dog!
There are so many stories about dogs that I stick into a folder to keep them separate from my general inbox. They come in on a more-or-less daily basis. I love republishing them and until I can’t tell up from down will continue to do so.
Take this article for instance. Published by The Dodo it is a supreme example of why our dogs are so treasured.
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Dog Can’t Believe His Dad Finally Found Him After 200 Days Apart
“Blue was shocked for a split second, like, ‘Am I believing my eyes?’”
In early April, the Washington County Animal Shelter received a call: a stray dog named Blue had shown up at a stranger’s house, looking for a safe place to rest. An animal control officer rushed over to pick up the pit bull mix and bring him back to the shelter.
No one knew how long Blue had been on the streets, but the homeless pup seemed to love every human he came across.
WASHINGTON COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
“He was a happy-go-lucky dog,” Tammy Davis, the shelter’s executive director, told The Dodo. “He was a little shy at first, and he wasn’t very fond of all the other dogs being around him, but he was extremely affectionate to people and very loving to the staff.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shelter had to close its doors to the public and make any visits by appointment only. With less foot traffic, Blue sat waiting in his kennel for months — which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
WASHINGTON COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
To introduce Blue to some potential adopters, the shelter posted a video of Blue playing with his favorite toy on their Facebook page. Moments later, a comment on the video read, “That’s my dog.”
Blue had gone missing from his Tennessee home six months before. His dad tirelessly searched for him but eventually had to relocate to Texas for work. He thought that he’d never see his dog again until his friend sent him the video of Blue on Facebook.
All that was left to do was confirm whether the man claiming to be Blue’s owner was telling the truth: “Blue’s favorite toy in the shelter was a blue squeaky ball and in our video, he was playing with that ball,” Davis said. “Once we started the conversation with the owner he said, ‘Yes, I have pictures of my dog.’ He sent us pictures of Blue in his home with that same blue ball, which was his favorite toy at home. It was crazy.”
WASHINGTON COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Blue’s dad drove 1,200 miles to get his boy, and the reunion was everything they could have hoped for.
WASHINGTON COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
“It was very obvious that the dog had a bond with that person,” Davis said. “Blue was shocked for a split second, like, ‘Am I believing my eyes?’ And then it was just immediate kisses and the man was crying, it was great.”
WASHINGTON COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
You can watch the heartwarming reunion here:
Now, Blue is back with his dad and the two are starting a new life together in Texas full of love, snuggles and squeaky balls.
“We wish that every animal could have a happy ending like that,” Davis said. “It makes all of our hard work worth it to be able to have moments like this.”
See what I mean. Blue’s Dad, from the photographs a gent in the later stages of life, brought to tears by the reunion. It’s an incredible story as well as a very beautiful account of bringing together Blue and his Dad across all those miles.
Not that long ago, in came an email from Doug Goodman, an author, wanting to offer a guest post. Of course, I said ‘Yes’. This is a little bit about Doug.
Doug Goodman is the writer of the Zombie Dog Series, which was inspired by his time as a cadaver dog handler. The fourth book is Ghost Dog. For similar stories, you can follow him at his dog-owning, horror-writing, family life blog is dgoodman1.wordpress.com.
Anyway, I guarantee you will enjoy his post.
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The Fireman
“They call me the Fireman, that’s my name. Making my rounds all over town, putting out all flames.” – George Strait
Most people don’t realize it, but I co-habitate with a Fire Marshall. He is the unauthorized, unknown Fire Marshall of Kemah Oaks. He seeks out all fires, whether they are barbecues or fire pits, and he tells people they should put out the flames. It’s hot! It’s dangerous! You could get hurt!
He doesn’t yell or shout, either. No, he isn’t the kind of fire marshall who is going to raise a ruckus about codes and dictates. He will walk around you back and forth and stare at you, and if that doesn’t work he will whine. The whine can be annoying, but it’s better than kicking the fire over or barking at you.
Yes, my fire marshall is Koda. All dogs have eccentricities. Some dogs don’t like the touch of grass on their paws. Mine doesn’t like fire in any sort. I’d say something bad happened with his previous owner, but my brother is his previous owner, and he never burned the dog.
Still, my fire marshal is willing to help out the neighborhood at any time, day or night. He has warned me about the dangers of every brisket I’ve ever smoked, even when it was pecan wood and he was slathering over it.
My wife’s fire pit is the worst. He HATES and FEARS the fire pit. I think it’s the open flame. Smoke is one thing, but those yellow and orange tongues are another. Last year I was able to buy birch wood. It smelled really good, and it made this beautiful crackling sound. I wanted to sit outside every night burning birch. Koda knew that was against code and fought me on it. Poor guy. His owner’s too dumb to know the danger of a fire. I’d remind him I once earned a Fireman Chit in Boy Scouts, but he can’t read printed language.
Today is no different. Our backyard neighbors are burning something. They don’t realize how lucky they are. The top photo shows him doing his duty, protecting them from the confines of our backyard. This one is even better:
You know he means business when he sits down. That’s not irony or sarcasm. Things get important to him when he sits.
I bet he’d love to go over and stare and whine at them until they put out their fire.
So if anybody needs me to bring Koda to their house to check on a fire, let me know. I won’t charge anything, but if you want to repay him, he really likes mint dog treats.
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I have said it many times before and hopefully I will have the chance to say it many times in the future: Our dogs are the epitome of friendship, companionship and even unconditional love to us.
This wonderful story from Doug underlines the relationship that millions have with their dogs!
Learning from Dogs 