No Bones About It, Dogs Are Everybody's Best Friend

I haven’t always loved dogs. In fact, there was a time when I despised them and thought of them as cruel beasts, with salivating mouths and rabies. However, after I got over my traumatic experience involving a dog named Diego (I’ll get to that later), I’ve grown to love them for the large playful galumphs that they are. I am now a dog person and I’ll never go back to hating them. Dogs have been serving us for generations doing all manner of jobs from search and rescue to hunting with nobles.

Since the very beginnings of our race, dogs have been with us. They just weren’t dogs yet. All dogs are actually just wolves that have been bred selectively to fit certain roles. Dogs can be bred for all manner of things, from brown fur, to larger canine teeth. Dogs have been selectively bred for thousands of years and are extremely different form their ancestors: the Gray Wolf and the extinct Taymyr Wolf. Evidence of domestication has been found as far as 400,000 years ago !

These days, dogs have been bred to accomplish a huge number of tasks. Dogs like the Pointer and English Setter have been used as hunting dogs. These dogs were a hit with nobles that had the time and wealth to go on hunts for fowl and game. Guard dogs were originally bred to protect livestock from wolves and other predators but eventually were also used to protect against human intruders. This is evidenced by our modern K9 units which are used by law enforcement today. Another large subset of dogs are herding dogs, which hence their name were used for herding livestock, such as sheep.

However, dogs have also played a key part in the lives of some of the most influential

and well known people in history. George Washington was said to have been a man who loved dogs and owned many. He was an avid hunter, and most of his dogs would have been used for hunting. The Marquis de Lafayette was known to have sent seven staghounds to George Washington in a sign of friendship. Sweet Lips, Scentwell, and Vulcan were the names of three of Washington’s staghounds. Dogs were also an integral part of French culture in the 1600s, most notable was the Bichon Frise, the dog of French Royalty. Unfortunately, after the french revolution, many pedigree dogs owned by royalty were killed with their owners and working dogs replaced the pampered greyhounds and Bichons.

Now, why did I choose dogs as my topic? Well, as you can probably guess, I love dogs and I have ever since I met Emmie. Emmie was a Labrador retriever with a ton of allergies, and she was my kindred spirit. Emmie belonged to my sister's best friend, and when we picked up my sister from her playdates I would wait for Emmie to come and lick my face and hands. If you don't know me, then you probably don’t know that I have a lot of allergies. The full list is: eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, tuna, shellfish, banana, pineapple, dairy products, gluten, and Penicillin. In Emmie, I had found a dog that had almost as many allergies as I did (The only ones I can remember are grass and pollen). I loved her to bits until we moved away from Brookline (where Emmie currently lives with her family) to Oregon, where I live today.

Following the year I met Emmie, I also discovered the magnificent Pembroke Welsh Corgi, the most glorious dog to ever grace this planet. After discovering them in an AKC (American Kennel Club) book of dog breeds, I couldn’t stop obsessing over them. I loved everything about them, from their cute little noses to their pudgy bellies. Ever since discovering Emmie and the Pembroke Welsh corgis, I’ve grown to see dogs for what they truly are, no matter what, they really are our best friends.

Cited sources:

Kelly, Kate. "George Washington and Dog, Revolutionary War." America Comes Alive. N.p., 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

Wikimedia Foundation. "Working Dogs." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

Fraser, Matthew. "The Mystery of Marie-Antoinette's Beloved Dog "Coco" - Matthew Fraser." Matthew Fraser. N.p., 19 June 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

"Origins of the Domesticated Dog." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

Pictures:

George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1797

https://houstonherald.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/great-corgi.jpg

https://blog-photos.dogvacay.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Photoxpress_23796349.jpg

http://www.elkgrovepd.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_118017/Image/K9/k9-02-photos.jpg