Dog Literature: For Fun, Inspiration, and Education
Things We Can Learn From A Dog:
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joy ride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.
Let others know when they’ve invaded your territory.
Take naps and stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
Never pretend to be something you’re not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under shady trees.
When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you’re scolded, don’t buy into the guilt thing and pout…run right back and make friends.
Bond with your pack.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
If you stare at someone long enough, eventually you’ll get what you want.
Don’t go out without ID.
When you do something wrong, always take responsibility (as soon as you’re dragged out from under the bed!)
If it’s not sloppy, it’s not a real kiss.
If at first you don’t succeed, whine real loud.
Don’t settle for cheap food.
Play nicely with others, but remind them that it’s your toy.
Rainy days are best spent indoors.
When a loud thunderstorm comes at night, and the ones you need to impress with your bravery are asleep, it’s okay to hide under the bed.
DOGS LIVE HERE
If you don’t want to be greeted with paws and swinging tails don’t come inside because dogs live here.
If you don’t like the feel of a cold nose or a wet tongue, don’t come inside because dogs live here.
If you don’t want to step over many scattered toys, don’t come inside because dogs live here.
If you think that a home ought to smell of perfume, don’t come inside because dogs live here.
If you don’t mind all of this, you will be instantly loved when you come inside, because dogs live here.
A DOG SITS WAITING
A dog sits waiting in the cold autumn sun
Too faithful to leave, too frightened to run.
He’s been there for days now with nothing to do,
But sit by the road, waiting for you.
He can’t understand why you left him that day.
He thought you and he were stopping to play.
He’s sure you’ll come back, and that’s why he stays
How long will he suffer? How many more days?
His legs have grown weak, his throat parched and dry.
He’s sick now from hunger and falls, with a sigh.
He lays down his head and closes his eyes.
I wish you could see how a waiting dog dies.
By: Kathy Flood
Winter Of Life
Lord, he is old and weakened,
He walks where he used to run,
In his youth he was always a happy dog,
Now he sleeps his days away in the sun.
Please make his trail mostly level
As he travels these last few miles,
Provide shade away from the heat of day
Where he can stop and rest for awhile.
If it rains let the drops be gentle,
If it blows let the breeze be warm,
Let the winter of life be kind,
Provide shelter and keep him from harm.
Please Lord, if he must suffer,
Give the pain and hurting to me,
He has been thru lifes raging waters,
As only a mans dog can be.
He doesnt deserve to be hurting,
He has lived a hard and long time,
I hope as he leaves he’ll be knowing
Your love, as he has always known mine.
I raised him, Lord, from a puppy
We have followed some rough rocky trails,
Please Lord, Make this last trail gentle,
As he come to where love never fails.
“Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant.”
“Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies.”
– Gene Hill
“In dog years, I’m dead.”
“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
– Robert A. Heinlein
“Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear.”
– Dave Barry
If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of fun out of owning one.
– Andrew A. Rooney.
“Outside of a dog, a book is probably man’s best friend; inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
– Groucho Marx
“To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.”
– Aldous Huxley
Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails.
– Max Eastman.
“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.”
– Robert Benchley
“Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that’s how dogs spend their lives.”
– Sue Murphy
“If you think dog’s can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them.”
– Phil Pastoret
“I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven’t got the guts to bite people themselves.”
– August Strindberg
“The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.”
– Samuel Butler
“No animal should ever jump up on the dining room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.”
– Fran Lebowitz
“Any time you think you have influence, try ordering around someone else’s dog.”
-The Cockle Bur
“Ever consider what they must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul-chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!”
– Anne Tyler
“I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.”
– Rita Rudner
One reason a dog can be such a comfort when you’re feeling blue is that he doesn’t try to find out why.
– National Enquirer
The dog has got more fun out of Man than Man has got out of the dog, for the clearly demonstrable reason that Man is the more laughable of the two animals.
– James Thurber
“If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, but very, very few persons will.”
– James Thurber
“You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets.”
– Nora Ephron
“Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”
– Ann Landers
“In order to keep a true perspective of one’s importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.”
– Dereke Bruce, Taipei, Taiwan
“Of all the things I miss from veterinary practice, puppy breath is one of the most fond memories!”
– Dr. Tom Cat
“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”
– Ben Williams
“When a man’s best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.”
– Edward Abbey
“Cat’s motto: No matter what you’ve done wrong, always try to make it look like the dog did it.”
“Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won’t buy the wag of his tail.”
“No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.”
– Christopher Morley
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”
– Josh Billings
“Man is a dog’s idea of what God should be.”
– Holbrook Jackson
“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.”
– Andrew A. Rooney
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
– Mark Twain
“Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane.”
– Smiley Blanton
“I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.”
– John Steinbeck
“We give them the love we can spare, the time we can spare. In return dogs have given us their absolute all. It is without a doubt the best deal man has made.”
– Roger Caras
Unlike people, dogs don’t smile
and then go off and talk about you.
Dogs don’t seem to trust you while they doubt you
Dogs don’t follow you to pry
And find you out and gossip loudly
They follow you to keep close by and proudly
With dogs, I swear it never fails
(And you have doubtless seen it)
When dogs look up and wag their tails –
They mean it!
If you can
Start the day without caffeine
Get going without pep pills
Always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains
Resist complaining and boring people with your troubles
Eat the same food every day and be grateful for it
Understand when your loved one is too busy to give you any time
Take criticism and blame without resentment
Ignore a friend’s limited education and not correct her
Resist treating a rich friend better than a poor one
Face the world without lies or deceit
Conquer tension without medical help
Relax without the aid of drugs
Say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, colour or religion,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog!
A Pets Prayer
Treat me kindly, my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is
more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.
Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your
hand between the blows, your patience and understanding
will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.
Speak to me often, for your voice is the worlds sweetest music, as
you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep
falls upon my waiting ear.
When it is cold and wet, please take me inside, for I am now a
domesticated animal, no longer used to the elements. And I ask no
greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the
hearth. Though, had you no home, I would rather follow you through
ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home
in all the land, for you are my god and I am your devoted worshipper.
Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not
reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.
Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do
your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able
to protect you with my life should your life be in danger.
And, beloved master, should the great Master see fit to deprive me of
my health or my sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather, hold me
gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of
eternal rest — and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I
drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.
by: Beth Norman Harris
Sleeping with your Dog
Now I lay me down to sleep,
The king-size bed is soft and deep.
I sleep right in the center groove
My human being can hardly move!
I’ve trapped her legs, she’s tucked in tight
And here is where I pass the night
No one disturbs me or dares intrude
Till morning comes and “I want food!”
I sneak up slowly to begin
my nibbles on my human’s chin.
She wakes up quickly,
I have sharp teeth-
I’m a puppy, don’t you see?
For the morning’s here
and it’s time to play
I always seem to get my way.
So thank you Lord for giving me
This human person that I see.
The one who hugs and holds me tight
And shares her bed with me at night!