Sniff every corner of the room before you decide to stay there. Turn around three times and create a magic circle before you settle down to dreaming. Decide to trust someone totally before you die. These are some of the things I have learned from the dogs in my life. Cats teach other lessons-lessons about keeping your own counsel, cherishing your independence and giving love without surrendering one's self.
Dogs seem more slobbery and slavish.
But it is we who become their slaves. As a species, humans are slow to trust. Perhaps that's because we have disregarded our noses for so many millennia. The nose is the only organ that tells it true. By living with dogs, we reclaim the feral in ourselves.