My dog, Luca, was my best friend. We cuddled and napped together, went on long trips, and taught each other new tricks. I embrace this depth of relationship with every dog I meet. All dogs have a friend in me, but I'm not like just every other friend. I find that special spot to scratch and play that favorite game. I even strike a chord with temperamental dogs who are hard to reach. Dogs read my body language. There's really something to be said about that. I have friends whose dogs listen better to me than them. I want to make it clear that I'm only friendly but have a very active presence to which they respond. I guess I would say that dogs don't try to challenge me; instead, there's sort of an understanding and things always go well. A couple of other examples: One friend of mine has a dog that was abused as a puppy and had some moodiness that made him a but "off" from time to time. I had a way of settling him down and helping him relax and snap out of it. Another friend of mine has a dog who has something against men. Well, I don't think she ever even growled at me. In fact, after only a few times watching her, it was almost like she was MY dog, instead. There was even one time that I hadn't been over in about a week, and when I came back, she was jumping and acting like she never thought she'd see me again. The owner laughed and made a funny comment that "she never misses ME that much." So yeah. I love dogs, and we always get along. What more is there to say?