In Egypt: Under no conditions, under threat of death could anyone kill a cat. People were exceuted for even killing a cat accidentally. And when a cat died, the whole family, and probably their closest friends, went into mourning, the measure of their personal loss signalled by their shaving off their eyebrows.

I always thought that my canine family tended to view me as the funny-looking two-legged dog who runs the can opener.

There are only three sins - causing pain, causing fear, and causing anguish. The rest is window dressing.

For me a house or an apartment becomes a home when you add one set of four legs, a happy tail, and that indescribable measure of love that we call a dog.

I am as confounded by dogs as I am indebted to them.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

Being patted is what it is all about.