Man’s Best Friend
Guard Dogs
Is a dog man’s best friend? In some ways, yes and it can also be a great friend to woman and child. One way to ensure that your dog becomes your friend is to be a great friend to your dog. Mankind has had a long and enduring relationship with dogs and they have grown close through years of survival, hunting, guarding, and playing. In past centuries, when toys for children were unheard of or at best very primitive, a little pup served as an ideal living toy and companion to children of all ages.
Dogs are wonderful protectors too. Their highly developed hearing and other keen senses have saved many a family from sudden by large predatory animals like lions, wolves, or bears. Throughout the centuries, dogs have been bred to perform well in all kinds of tasks and they have not disappointed their owners. Today, if you go to the zoo, you will not see dogs there. The dog has become domesticated and does not live in the zoo. They live in our houses. Now that is friendship.
Many of the jobs that dogs have performed in past ages have changed. Dogs used to pull sleds for example, out of necessity, but today they pull sleds for sport. It is the same with regard to hunting. Guard dogs are still necessary however and perhaps more than ever. We now have police dogs as well. In this age of contraband and easy morals, we have a need for drug sniffing dogs primarily at ports or air terminals.
One of the most important jobs performed by highly trained dogs today is that of leading the blind. This is very fine and necessary work. Over time, man and dog have only grown closer. Whether you see a fleet footed dog herding cattle or a gentle breed guiding a blind person, you can be sure that you are witnessing one of the closest of all relationships in the world of man and animal.