Holland - Unlikely friendships: dogs: 37 stories of canine compassion and courage

Unlikely Friendships

DOGS

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

37 Stories of Canine Compassion and Courage

by

Jennifer S. Holland

workman publishing new york

For my adorably furry husband, John, who loves dogs, too. (Honey, three is enough.)

Our Cover Dog

This is Bob. He is one of a pair of pups named after the music legend Bob Marley, and hes about as smooth and easygoing as his name suggests. (Turn on some reggae if you arent sure what Im talking about.) This much loved golden retriever, who lives in Brazil with owner Luiz, canine partner in sweetness Marley (another golden), and a menagerie of little animals, is quite partial to species that most dogs would treat as chew toys. He seems most contentchin resting on the floor and tail flapping madlywhen surrounded by parakeets and finches and hamsters. As one person posting on Bobs Facebook page noted, Everybody in Bobs world is always smiling! He brings such joy to so many people and furry and feathered friends!

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

When the Man waked up he said, What is Wild Dog doing here? And the Woman said, His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always.

Rudyard Kipling,

The Cat That Walked by Himself
(Just So Stories)

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Contents

Classic story from Unlikely Friendships, Unlikely Loves, or Unlikely Heroes.

Introduction

W hat is it about dogs? Whether were obsessively photographing them being adorable or boring friends at a party with the hilarious thing my dog did stories (guilty!), we cant seem to get enough of them. Their friendship with humans is certainly nothing new: Dogs were the first animals we domesticatedto me, one of our species best accomplishmentsand their bones mingle with ours in 12,000-year-old graves. The latest fossil discoveries suggest the line that led to our pets goes back more than 30,000 years, much further than previously thought.

Weve been tweaking dogs to our liking ever since they joined our lives, fussing with size and color, with temperament and ability and looks, going from wolf to woof to yap and everything in between. Want a dog that fits in your purse? Weve got those. Or one that can lead us to bad guys, bombs, and drugs? Theyre out there, too. There are the watchful and wary breeds, ready to leap to your defense, and the happy, lovable mutts with lolling tongues that ask only for a place in your lap and a kiss on the head. How wonderful that there are canines to suit each of us, to bring joy and, lets be honest, chaos to our lives.

Debates over dogs origins have been fierce, and theres still no consensus about exactly when and where domestication happened. But how it happened may be a bit clearer. Many experts believe our bond with dogs began at the animals initiation. Researchers theorize that wolves warily approached human settlements to pick at our food scraps, and with time, some were literally eating out of human hands. They even adapted to digesting the starchy foods that came from human agriculture; domestic dogs possess genes for that purpose that wolves dont have. With access to extra food, bold animals survived longer and bred more often than their cautious siblings. And so genes that made some of them friendly would have become more common, reinforcing the dog-human relationship.

Then, some of those same experts suggest, there may have come a second stage of domestication, when people, realizing the benefits of having canine companions as hunting buddies, actually captured wolf pups and raised them.

So, lets assume that dogs first sought out a partnership with people. Sure, that relationship was initially all about food, but what love affair doesnt start with a good meal? And now studies have shown that our love is mutual and has seeped all the way into our endocrine systems. When we gaze into the eyes of our furry friends, there is a rise in oxytocina hormone linked to trust and mother-infant bondsboth in their blood and in ours. We care about each other.

One reason early dogs thrived is because they gave back. While theres been a recent emphasis in the media on service dogs and how they benefit society, dogs actually have been serving us all along. For millennia, canines have been guards and hunters and sniffers on our behalf. Theyve rounded up our sheep and scared away predators from our villages and farms. Theyve carried messages and traveled with caravans and gone into battle with us. Theyve been our eyes and ears, our legs and noses, and even our hands when our own arent working. And theyve been devoted companions, forgiving us for our mistakeseven our crueltyand loving us when we need it most.

In recent decades, the internet has given us a big shiny platform for showing off all the good stuff that dogs do. Scrolling through the endless postings of animal exploits (of which dogs are second only to cats in popularitybecause, lets face it, cats are hilarious), we cant help but appreciate canines openness toward others and willingness to help those in need. Sometimes dogs are simply more humane than humans are.

I love dogs. I suspect thats obvious from the books in this series. And when it comes to animal friendships, love, and heroism, dogs dominate. As much as I scour the animal kingdom to find the wacky and wonderful things other species are doing, Canis lupus familiarus is always just over my shoulder, stealing my attention with a tiny whimper and big sweet eyes.

And so, with this special volume, Im giving in. Dogs, dogs, dogs! Theyre in every story, on every page. They pal around with other animals, showing how benevolent they can be, and they assist in all sorts of ways, from sniffing out a little girls seizures to sticking by a trapped canine friend until a rescuer arrives. Youll also see included here some of the favorite and classic dog stories from the previous Unlikely books, but there is much fresh material, too, such as the mastiff who saved seventeen horses and a sweet pup with a chicken as a BFF. One doesnt have to look hard to find new cases of dogs showing empathy, kindness, or courage.

Necessarily, one book about dogs can only nibble at the edges of their generous offerings. With millions of pet pooches out there, how could we possibly keep up with so many memorable acts? They dont wait for us to hit record when they want to be awesome; they simply do their thing and then, easily distracted, rush headlong into something else.

Fortunately, we are together with dogs enough to witness a lot of behaviors worth our respect and even aweand certainly our photos and videos. But more important, after such a long and ever-changing relationship with the human race, were lucky that dogs still like having us around.