“Last, I would like to thank the dogs, not just the Vick pack, but all of them, simply for being dogs, which is to say, tolerant and perseverant; willing to connect with a world that does not always return their affection; and for proving, time and again, that life, while messy, difficult, and imperfect, has the capacity to exceed our expectations and feed our undying hope.”

“It is easy to forget that in the main we die only seven times more slowly than our dogs.”

“I like dogs. They give Mister something to snack on.”

“The capacity for love that makes dogs such rewarding companions has a flip-side: They find it difficult to cope without us. Since we humans programmed this vulnerability, it's our responsibility to ensure that our dogs do not suffer as a result.”

“I believe it's our loss of connection with our instinctual side that prevents us from being effective pack leaders for our dogs. Perhaps it's also why we also seem to be failing at being positive guardians of our planet.”

“Slowly, deliberately, the dog turned from the black wolf and walked toward the man. He was a dog, and dogs chose men.”

“Each dog marks a section of our lives, and in the end, we feed them to the dark, burying them there while we carry on.”