People can be a fine substitute for other dogs. But I think that if they had to choose, dogs by and large would choose the company of other dogs.

We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.

People can be a fine substitute for other dogs. But I think that if they had to choose, dogs by and large would choose the company of other dogs.

In truth, most of us don't know our cats.

Dogs who chase cars evidently see them as large, unruly ungulates badly in need of discipline and shepherding.

In the past even scientists have been led to believe that only human beings have thoughts or emotions. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth... After all, thoughts and emotions have evolutionary value.

As the cherub is to the angel, so the cat is to the tiger.