For June, Seaside Magazine marks both our Second Annual Men to Watch feature and our Annual Pets issue. For a fun twist, and to bring these two themes together, we suggested to our featured “men” that, if they’d like, they could have a favourite pet in their photo with them. As you can see on the resulting pages (beginning on page 18), many of them took us up on our offer!
With everything from mutts and labs to dachsunds and terriers, it’s clear these men love their dogs … and vice versa.
Since the dawn of time (it seems), man has had his trusty companion, his dog, by his side. In fact, according to www.wikipedia.org, “The origin of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) began with the domestication of the Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) several tens of thousands of years ago. Domesticated dogs provided early humans with a guard animal, a source of food, fur, and a beast of burden; humans provided the dogs with food and shelter.”
A quid pro quo that continues today: as lawyer C.J. (Kip) Wilson put it when asked what three words his dog would use to describe him: “He has cookies.”
In a www.menshealth.com article by Jim Thornton, Why Every Man Should Own a Dog, the author writes: “Women, money, and friends come and go, but dogs are forever.”
Well, this woman has always owned a dog; one of the earliest pictures of me shows me curled up with my golden retriever Kelly in her bed. Later came Barney, another golden retriever whose greatest honour it was to watch over me and my siblings; he couldn’t relax unless the three of us were in sight. In high school along came Odie, a black lab/Chesapeake Bay retriever who, while a lovely, affectionate “lapdog” (at over 100 pounds) had an extremely high energy level, a stubborn view toward obedience, and a keen interest in all things stinky, which made for some interesting walks.
After that I was dogless for many years, as I went through school and moved from one rental to another, but two years ago James and I adopted Dexter from local rescue organization The Nana Foundation. Dex is a shepherd husky cross, as many of the “rescues” in the area seem to be. Raising this goofy, vocal dog, whose favourite things include mud puddles, fresh chicken, and going completely nuts for no apparent reason, has been a challenge. He came to us at six months with no manners, no leash skills and no bathroom etiquette, but over our time together he has become a valued member of our family. Man’s best friend indeed.
