Gratitude Friday 2 21 25 Dogs

I love dogs. I think dogs are better humans than most humans, no intended slight to any of my hominoid readers. Gratitude Friday is my comfort space and dogs make me smile when no other creatures can. So today, dog quotes!

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” ― Mark Twain

“You have to love not one dog, but all dogs," he would explain to Ceres. "You only have them for a short time, you see. To them it's a lifetime, while for you it's never long enough. So you love each of them for what they are, because no two are ever the same. But you also love dogness, the fact of them in your life and the world, so they become individual chapters in a book that spans your days, and you name that book Dog.” ― John Connolly

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” ― Will Rogers

“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog.” ― Charles M. Schulz

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.” ― John Grogan, Marley and Me

“If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.”

― Woodrow Wilson

“No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish - consciously or unconsciously - that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.” ― Dean Koontz

“I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person.” ― Bill Murray

“Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born. What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs?” ― Mary Oliver

“You want a friend in this city? [Washington, DC.] Get a dog!” ― Harry S. Truman

“Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made (man) is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one... that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain.” ― Mark Twain

“Dogs are like kids. Cats are like roommates.” ― Oliver Gaspirtz

“I know now that even though dogs break your heart, they fill it up, even when they're gone.” ― Susan Orlean

“I don’t really understand that process called reincarnation, but if there is such a thing, I’d like to come back as my daughter’s dog.” ― Leonard Cohen

“My dog doesn’t know the troubles of yesterday nor the worries of tomorrow when she wakes up in the morning. Each day is a new day and she’s excited as ever to get it started.” ― Martin "Rainman" Leghart Jr.

“I whisper how I love them into their soft doggy ears.” ― E. Lockhart

I confess that Mr. Tweaks a dog we lost two years ago is still my home screen on my phone, although Sir Sumo, the wonder dog we rescued shortly after we lost him has made significant inroads to my heart. Sumo is a rockstar dog photo super model as evidenced above. He is the most fragile and loving pup we have ever had and has cautiously learned to trust me over the last two years. I suspect he had less than positive encounters with humans (as I have as well). We are in fact, less trustable as a species than the canines.

I am grateful for dogs and could not imagine a world without them.

What are you grateful for today?