Since it is National Dog Day, I just wanted to lend my two cents: I think dogs are a physical manifestation of God's grace. It has been said that when God made all animals, he didn't make the dog because he already had one.

There is a story about how when the world was created, the Great Spirit spread a giant tapestry across the void, and on that tapestry he placed all things living - man, woman and all animals. He took his finger and drew a line down the middle of the tapestry, and the creatures began to move to either side of the line depending upon whether they were human or animal. A great chasm began to form, as if to separate the two groups, and it grew wider and wider. At the point right before the chasm became too wide to cross, Dog jumped over and stood by Man.