The Faithful Friend

We always think of our dogs as friends,I know I certainly do as I have three,they are indeed my loyal and faithful friends.We expect them to stand by us, to be understanding when we are down and to put our interests above all others.In return we allow them to share our lives and to join in the fun, but only when we say so, obedience is all.This is more than we expect from any other animal,the dog is tail wagging happy and loves to please us. One might imagine that this was a situation contrived by man to give himself a willing slave and courtier, but it seems likely that it was originally the dog who saw the advantage in throwing in his lot with human beings.Probably wild dogs first attached themselves to man by scavenging around his camp,or outside his cave and perhaps man first became aware of dogs usefullness when he realized that their barking gave warning of the approach of strangers or other animals.Dogs offered no threat to man and their presence was encouraged.They followed men on hunting trips looking for pickings.Then they began to cooperate in bringing down the quarry and shared in the kill. Dog and man began to trust each other and from the perimeter of the camp moved to a place nearer the fire. His puppies grew up with the mans children as their playfellows,and the dog became the first animal to be domesticated.The dog is indeed mans best friend. I hope you enjoy some of my paintings of dogs.