Man's best friend.

Nice post, Rick. It seems the majority of dogs feel this way about their owners. I will always remember my old bluetick/black & tan cross hound I had as a kid down in the mountains. We shared lots of good & bad times together & survived all of it. He was always there in times of need & never seemed to question anything I did or asked him to do. Great dog in my eyes. .......Paul H

So true Rick their love is unconditional.

Quote from: Jorge in Oz;141991So true Rick their love is unconditional.

1) I like dogs. Had them all of my life.

2) I don't want to 'rain on the parade', but...

3) I don't agree.

Let your dog run loose and let your next door neighbor feed them steak every night for a week and see how "unconditional" their love is. Dogs go with the human that feeds them the food they like.

That said, I would be the first to claim that dogs have done some AMAZING things for humans. And I love my dogs. I just can't go along with the 'unconditional love' claim. I've seen too many fickle dogs.

Paul

Paul, I must have been blessed so far with the dogs I've owned.

That's why I haven't owned breeds like Alaskan Malamutes that like to go where the sun shines as an old Spanish proverb says about disloyal people.

Almost all of the dogs I have owned have been a blessing. And I do not argue that there haven't been dogs that demonstrated profound loyalty. But as a species, I have found their dedication to be most 'conditional'.

I think the issue in this discussion is one of definition - as it often is. Let me ask this question: If you kept your dog on a chain outside, only fed it once every three days and beat it everyday with a hose when you came home from work; THEN you let it off its chain and it got fed gravy twice a day by your next door neighbor. Do you think its love/loyalty to you would be "unconditional"?

There is only one entity in the universe whose love is truly without condition no matter how bad we treat Him.

Paul

Well I must say I have never mistreated an animal in my care or being too harsh. But I get your point as my parents use to breed Golden Cocker Spaniels and the alpha male was very spoilt by my father and the times I tried to discipline it he took a dislike to me. When mum would hang the clothes outside he would pull down all my work shirts. He never pulled anyone else's clothes down but mine. It use to real annoy me and he would have a look like he was very pleased with his efforts.

I laughed out loud at that, Jorge. Interesting you mention Cocker Spaniels. My very first dog was a Cocker Spaniel. I gave it away to twin girls that lived near by. My parents were VERY pleased. No joking. They hated that dog for all the mess it created when we were gone from the house. It could reduce a Kleenex box to its 'elemental pieces' in pretty short order.

Paul

I`ve had many dogs...........   they just belong to other people.  
 
   Kinda like being the favorite uncle..........  they`re glad to see me and they`re pretty worn out when I leave.  8-)

Quote from: JaDub;142006I`ve had many dogs...........   they just belong to other people.  
 
   Kinda like being the favorite uncle..........  they`re glad to see me and they`re pretty worn out when I leave.  8-)

Paul

Sadly it looks like "His Nibbs" my hound is on the downward slope. He has aged really fast the last few months and now just sleeps a lot. He is 11 years old now.

My last Lab went downhill incredibly fast, BH. I'd guess it wasn't much more than six months between typical Lab "puppiness", and dog dementia. Took me another six months to screw my courage to the point I could put him down. But he was 14.

Paul