Reply #13: A good dog [View All]

will fight to the death to save you, your wife, your children. He'll skip with happiness when daddy comes home, he'll tolerate the indignities forced upon him if you, by chance, have a newborn, and he wants a few things in return. A little love, a little playtime, his fair share of attention.

My dog hit this phase where he started play-biting. Finally I nipped him on the back of his neck? The little guy managed to jump 3 feet in the air, several feet back, and looked at me like "what the hell....?" Then he got this big s*&^-eating grin on his face, and you could see the realization hit his face: "Oh, you're just a big dog!!!!" He pounced on me and started licking my face like a crazed devil. That dog played with my kids whenever and wherever they wanted.

We had a cat at one point, it clawed my 2 year old's face for looking at it. I saw it as it happened. The baby was just sitting there watching the cat.

My take: cats may not care what you think of them. Conversely, I wouldn't shed a tear if every one of the little bastards died overnight. A dog, on the other hand, if raised properly, can become part of the family.