We treat them so badly, don't we? Obviously, we deserve their contempt.

I guess I'm lucky. I've got two cats who pretty well mind me (well, MOST of the time) and who lose few chances to snuggle up. They reach out and pat my face with their little paws and let me know in other ways that they own me.

I've had 4 dogs in my life. Collar, a beautiful Collie, who protected us and our property. No one came onto our property without our permission. God help you if you looked cross-eyed at me. He got one guy cornered in his car and wouldn't let him out until we came and called Collar off. That plumber didn't want to come back to our house.

Later I had another Collie, Gyp, who played tree tag with me and let me win. When we moved into town, we had to give him away to a farm family and Gyp subsequently saved their little boy's life from getting hit by a car. Suffice it to say, they worshiped that dog.