“The way I see it, dogs had this big meeting, oh, maybe 20,000 years ago. A huge meeting—an international convention with delegates from everywhere. And that’s when they decided that humans were the up-and-coming species and dogs were going to throw their lot in with them. The decision was obviously not unanimous. The wolves and dingoes walked out in protest.

“Cats had an even more negative reaction…(denouncing) canine subservience to the human hyperpower…Using guile and seduction, they managed to get humans to feed them, thus preserving their superciliousness without going hungry.

“Dogs, being guileless, signed and delivered. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

—Charles Krauthammer, “Of Dogs and Men,” Things That MatterContinue reading