Man’s Best Friend is a fas­ci­nat­ing explo­ration into the world of dogs, begin­ning with the ori­gin of the name “Fido,” which is derived from the Latin word fidelis, mean­ing “loy­al.” This term is syn­ony­mous with the devo­tion that dogs have dis­played to humans for thou­sands of years. Dogs have been com­pan­ions, pro­tec­tors, and helpers, and their loy­al­ty is unmatched in the ani­mal king­dom. A par­tic­u­lar­ly remark­able exam­ple of loy­al­ty and longevi­ty is Bluey, an Aus­tralian cat­tle dog from Rochester, Vic­to­ria, who lived to the impres­sive age of 29 years and 160 days, hold­ing the record for the longest-lived dog. How­ev­er, this chap­ter also pro­vides a cru­cial warn­ing for dog own­ers: choco­late can be extreme­ly harm­ful to dogs due to the tox­ic alka­loid theo­bromine, which they are unable to metab­o­lize, par­tic­u­lar­ly dan­ger­ous for small­er breeds.

The chap­ter delves deep­er into some fas­ci­nat­ing and less­er-known aspects of dogs, like their unique iden­ti­ty mark­ers. For exam­ple, just as human fin­ger­prints are used for iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, dogs’ nose prints are dis­tinct to each indi­vid­ual dog. The intel­li­gence of dogs is anoth­er intrigu­ing sub­ject, with cer­tain breeds like the Bor­der Col­lie often regard­ed as the most intel­li­gent due to their abil­i­ty to learn and per­form tasks quick­ly. In con­trast, breeds like Bea­gles and Bas­set Hounds are known to be less train­able, although still high­ly loved and devot­ed com­pan­ions. The chap­ter also touch­es on the ancient Egyp­tians’ deep rela­tion­ship with dogs, with two dis­tinct words for dog in their lan­guage: iu, pos­si­bly ono­matopoe­ic, and chesum, which may have referred to a spe­cif­ic breed, illus­trat­ing the long-stand­ing impor­tance of dogs in human cul­ture.

The chap­ter high­lights the pro­found cul­tur­al impact that dogs have had through­out his­to­ry, ref­er­enc­ing the icon­ic dog Lassie. This well-known tele­vi­sion dog, por­trayed by sev­er­al male dogs, became a sym­bol of loy­al­ty and courage dur­ing the baby boomer gen­er­a­tion. Dogs’ extra­or­di­nary sens­es, par­tic­u­lar­ly their sense of smell and hear­ing, are also explored in detail. The olfac­to­ry por­tion of a dog’s brain is 40 times larg­er than that of humans, enabling dogs to detect scents with an unpar­al­leled lev­el of accu­ra­cy. The chap­ter also explains the sci­en­tif­ic clas­si­fi­ca­tion of dogs, not­ing that while they are part of the Canidae fam­i­ly along with wolves, fox­es, and coy­otes, domes­tic dogs are clas­si­fied specif­i­cal­ly as Can­is famil­iaris or Can­is lupus famil­iaris.

The evo­lu­tion of dogs and their roles in soci­ety is anoth­er key focus of this chap­ter. It men­tions how the pop­u­lar­i­ty of grey­hound rac­ing in the U.S. has declined over the years, despite the greyhound’s remark­able speed. It also empha­sizes the sig­nif­i­cant role dogs play in law enforce­ment, where they are trained to sniff out con­tra­band, explo­sives, and drugs. This illus­trates how dogs’ spe­cial­ized abil­i­ties have been har­nessed for prac­ti­cal pur­pos­es. The intel­li­gence of domes­tic dogs is likened to that of a two-year-old human child, but with the added ben­e­fit of being high­ly train­able, a trait that allows dogs to excel in a vari­ety of roles.

Cross­breed­ing with­in the Can­is genus has result­ed in the cre­ation of hybrid breeds, such as the Sulimov dog, a mix between a jack­al and a dog. These hybrids are an exam­ple of how the diverse char­ac­ter­is­tics of dogs, fox­es, and wolves can be com­bined to cre­ate ani­mals with unique abil­i­ties. The chap­ter also touch­es on the pop­u­lar dogs in enter­tain­ment, such as Hig­gins, the dog who played Ben­ji in the famous film series. Addi­tion­al­ly, the Labrador Retriev­er is high­light­ed as the most pop­u­lar breed in the Unit­ed States due to its intel­li­gence and friend­ly dis­po­si­tion. The chap­ter also men­tions that, like humans, dogs are believed to dream, a find­ing that has been sup­port­ed by sci­en­tif­ic research.

The chap­ter pro­vides fur­ther insight into the ancient rela­tion­ship between humans and dogs, espe­cial­ly in Egypt, where breeds such as Basen­jis, Salukis, and Grey­hounds were kept. In con­trast, the Din­go, a wild dog, is con­sid­ered the ancient breed of domes­tic dog native to Aus­tralia. The Dingo’s role in Aus­tralian cul­ture has been cen­tral, with its rep­u­ta­tion as a sur­vivor and adapt­ed hunter. It’s inter­est­ing to note that Din­goes have influ­enced the devel­op­ment of mod­ern Aus­tralian domes­tic dogs and have con­tributed to Australia’s rich his­to­ry of dog breed­ing.

Dogs have a vari­ety of fas­ci­nat­ing behav­iors and abil­i­ties that con­tin­ue to intrigue sci­en­tists and dog lovers alike. The chap­ter describes the impres­sive speed of grey­hounds, known for their abil­i­ty to reach high veloc­i­ties, mak­ing them suit­able for rac­ing. It also details the habit that many dogs have of kick­ing their hind legs after reliev­ing them­selves, a behav­ior believed to be a way of mark­ing their ter­ri­to­ry using the scent glands locat­ed in their paws. This behav­ior fur­ther demon­strates how dogs have devel­oped unique ways of com­mu­ni­cat­ing and claim­ing their space.

The chap­ter con­cludes with a humor­ous anec­dote about the dogs of U.S. Pres­i­dent Lyn­don B. John­son, who cre­at­ed a stir after being pho­tographed in a con­tro­ver­sial man­ner. The two bea­gles, named Him and Her, became famous for their mis­chie­vous antics and were the sub­ject of much media atten­tion dur­ing John­son’s pres­i­den­cy. This sto­ry not only under­scores the play­ful side of dogs but also high­lights their role in shap­ing polit­i­cal his­to­ry, show­ing how even the pets of promi­nent fig­ures can make a last­ing impres­sion on soci­ety. Over­all, the chap­ter illus­trates how dogs, through their loy­al­ty, intel­li­gence, and unique behav­iors, con­tin­ue to cap­ti­vate and enrich the lives of peo­ple around the world.