by Jesse Dragonheart

Created on: September 29, 2008   Last Updated: October 03, 2008

We fall in love with them on sight. We talk to them, tell them our deepest secrets, play with them, pamper them and sleep with them. We acknowledge their favorite TV shows. We buy them their own clothes, toys, food, treats, beds, blankets, pillows and Christmas presents. We cook for them. They have their own hairstylists. We take care of their morning needs before we get a cup of coffee, we feed them before we feed our children, and they often get away with more.

Who are they? They're our dogs.

Americans spend six billion dollars on dog food annually. Dog grooming, boarding and training are multi-mullion dollar businesses. Entire books and magazines are devoted to them; people can choose from an assortment of books on what to name the dog! We have doggie funeral parlors, cemeteries and wedding chapels. It is common to hear a dog's human say, "He thinks he's a person." Well, of course he does! He's been treated like one all his life!

I realize that not everyone loves dogs, and certainly my own research on the subject has been less than scientific, but I can say that nearly every person I've ever met has at least liked dogs, and most of those have owned at least one.

"Alternative" dogs are available for people who can't have or don't want real dogs. They come in stuffed, virtual, roboticsome people even buy these dogs for their dogs.

This human/dog partnership has been going on, apparently, for as long as there have been people and dogs. Why? Why do we choose to keep dogs around, in spite of the expense, effort, noise, dirty-wet-dog smell, chewed belongings and ever-present dog hair?

In the beginning perhaps it was a simple matter of dogs being useful. People hunted with them. The Aborigines slept with them for warmth. In Korea, China and other Asian countries, they were food. The breed we know as the Chinese Crested Dog was once known as the Chinese Edible Dog, and considered a delicacy (Coren 41). As our needs changed, we discovered that dogs were good at any number of other things. They pulled sleds and packed burdens. They provided a single shepherd with enough "hands" to keep a much larger flock than he would have been able to without assistance, and they are still used extensively for that purpose. Time went on, and dogs became decent and honorable soldiers and police officers. The first recorded use of dogs by the United States Army was during the Second Seminole War, where Bloodhounds were used to track the Indians (K-9 History 30).

Dogs have provided eyes

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