After my workout the other day, I was washing my face at the bank of sinks when I overheard the end of conversation between two other men. Evidently they were discussing a situation in which one of them was treated poorly by someone else. The other man replied, “The more I get to know humanity, the more I prefer my dog.”

What a sad comment on humanity, yet somehow I believe it must be true for many, if not millions of people. So that got me thinking. What is it that many of us love about dogs that are shortcomings or less predictable in many people? Dogs are . . .

• Loyal and devoted
• Affectionate and loving unconditionally
• Playful
• Curious
• Protective
• Sociable

Additionally, dogs . . .

• Don’t care what we look like, only what we are like
• Will protect and love us when others might not
• Ask very little of us other than being be fed and walked
• Miss us when we are away and joyful when we come home, no matter how long we’ve been gone
• Are thrilled, happy, and devoted when we are kind to them, even in very small ways
• Sense when we need to be comforted and are a great source of comfort and companionship for people who live by themselves as well as those feeling lonely or ill. They love us and are our friends when we need it most.
• Follow rules and understand limits after being trained
• Adapt to our habits
• Live in the moment
• Enjoy expressing affection in public
• Just want to have fun when we play with them . . . and don’t make fun of how we throw when playing fetch
• Mean it when they kiss us.

Willie Morris, in My Dog Skip, wrote: “The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship, and love, and death: Old Skip was my brother. They had buried him under our elm tree, they said — yet this wasn’t totally true. For he really lay buried in my heart.”

And as Dave Barry said, “Dogs need to sniff the ground; it’s how they keep abreast of current events. The ground is a giant dog newspaper, containing all kinds of late-breaking dog news items, which, if they are especially urgent, are often continued in the next yard.” In this regard, dogs seem to have a definite set of priorities and know what they are looking for.

Perhaps we can learn from dogs how we can be better human beings.