Though relationships might begin and end with the brevity of a candle, friends might move on, move away or fall out, dogs will always be there for you. As we moan and groan our way through life, lamenting each tiny inconvenience that affects our existence in some imperceptible fashion or another, our faithful hounds bound gleefully at our heel, overjoyed beyond all reason by the simple throwing of a stick, or the smell of sausages in some nearby eatery.
Perhaps this is why dogs have become such an essential part of our lives, woven so indelibly into the fabric of humanity that a world in which they didn't exist as our pets is hard to imagine, and depressing to envisage.