y Dog’s Best Friend is mostly my humble attempt to share what I have learned about dogs over almost two decades of being with, living with, working with and rescuing dogs. There has not been even one single day since 1999 that I have been without a dog. During my decade of rescue work, I shared my life and home with a bunch dogs, rarely less than a half dozen, most times closer to a dozen.

I think I have been trying to make up for the fact that I did not have a dog, as an adult, until I was in my 40s. I had a wonderful dog growing up in Spain, Cesar, a German Shepherd Dog that taught me some valuable early lessons. After he was gone, there were no more dogs in my life until I got my first dog as an adult: Gigi, a sweet, lovable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was plagued with a laundry list of health issues. Gigi was the first of many canine teachers. She taught me to become an informed and analytical dog guardian. Thanks to her I learned a great deal about canine nutrition, veterinary care and that sometimes life throws you big challenges so you can grow.

My primary goal is to celebrate dogs, to honor their gifts and to better understand what they are trying to tell us. To appreciate what dogs are rather than demand they be what we want them to be. Dogs are our best friends and they deserve we be theirs.

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment.

Mary Ann Evans, AKA George Eliot

If we can learn what dogs can teach us — to be kinder, to be more giving and more compassionate, to live life to the fullest — we will be happier with life and better human beings. What’s the downside?

My sincere hope is that what I share here will be useful in your journey to be a more compassionate, loving and informed canine guardian.

Come back for visits often, I will keep adding new “stuff” as time allows. Until then, don’t forget to take a nice walk with your best friend, throw him (or her) a stick, or just hang out and watch a beautiful sunset together. Your best friend will be very happy and you will get a sanity-saving break from all your worries!

About My Dog’s Best Friend Logo

Our logo is an adaptation of an open source logo designed to represent the concept that under our outward appearances, the roles we play in our lives and society, our “social status, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, different abilities,” every human has “inherent worth” and is deserving of equal rights, freedom and a means to live. You can read more about the Being Human logo here.

We love this concept and wanted to extend it beyond the human species, to convey the idea that despite our differences, underneath it all, we have more in common than we think and that despite those differences, every creature on this planet has “intrinsic worth” and is deserving of the same kindness, compassion and appreciation.

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Albert Einstein

The atoms of our bodies are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded these enriched ingredients across our galaxy, billions of years ago. For this reason, we are biologically connected to every other living thing in the world. We are chemically connected to all molecules on Earth. And we are atomically connected to all atoms in the universe. We are not figuratively, but literally stardust.

Neil deGrasse Tyson