I don’t even care for dogs; so why am I writing about them?  Because of all the animals that we have domesticated, the dog stands alone.

A dog is a friend and a partner unlike any friend or partner of the human kind.  It will lay down its life for you.  It will love you unconditionally and without any preconceived notions.  It will not lust after your inheritance, nor will it care if you having nothing in the world.  It will ask for very little in return:  to be fed, exercised, loved, and given attention.

The dog has been by our side since Neolithic times, some 10,000 years ago.  Probably, no creature on the planet has been, through selective breeding, modified as much as the dog.  The result is a versatile animal that can specialize and carry out a variety of tasks. 

In this section I will look at some of the jobs performed by dogs.  Because the dog is so intrinsically linked to our lives, and the fact that as a species it has numerous oddities, we owe it many of our expressions.  In my next section, I will list (in no particular order) doggies expressions.  I thought of quite a few; but I suspect that I left a few out.  Feel free to add to my list.

I sniffed around (sorry, I mean researched the topic) and came out with the following list of jobs:

1. Guide dogs for the visually impaired.
2. Hearing dogs.
3. Service to individuals such as assisting people in wheelchairs, predicting epileptic seizures, and providing companionship and laughter for nursing-homes residents.
4. Rescue such as a St. Bernard used after an avalanche.
5. Search, detection, and police work.  Examples:  finding an individual lost in the woods, following the trail of a criminal, sniffing and finding drugs, and protecting police officers.
6. Military operations such as leading patrols over difficult terrains, and giving timely warning of enemy waiting in ambush or hiding.
7. Guardian and protection.
8. Hunting.
9. Herding.
10. Livestock guardian.
11. Performers, generally in a circus.
12. Entertainment.  Actually actors acting in movies and on television.
13. Show.  They go to competitions and are judged for their intelligence and looks.
14. Mascots.  They go with their team for support and publicity.
15. Sled dogs.
16. Companion dogs whose purpose is essentially as a pet.
17. Astronaut.  (Yes, some dogs have been sent to space!)

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