By Nancy K. Crevier

Shelby McChord of Newtown admits that she is a dog nut.

“Dogs are a great comfort,” she says. “They are always there for you – bad day, bad friends, illness – they are there to comfort you and to share your joy.”

She may not be far off in believing that her canine friends detect and empathize with her emotions. Research done by Brian Hare, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University, shows that dogs and puppies of all ages can follow a human’s gaze or pointing, allowing them to pick up hints about hidden food more quickly than can chimpanzees.

Dogs, he says, seem to have “converged on some of our thought processes.”

How long dogs have served as workmates and companions to humans is debatable, but most researchers believe that the connection has been for at least several thousands of years. Domesticated dogs have served as guards, have helped transport materials, and have been trained to herd buffalo, and later, cattle, by many tribes throughout Asia, Europe, and America.

Dogs continue to work alongside people today as service dogs, therapy dogs, police and rescue dogs, herd dogs, and hunting dogs. But it is for companionship that most dogs are joined into a human relationship. For true dog lovers, there is nothing like the love of a dog.

Haggis is Ms McChord’s fourth Airedale since 1972. She is named after the Scottish sheep stomach specialty, in honor of her husband’s Scottish heritage.

“I think it’s good to name a dog something funny,” explains Ms McChord. Airedales are a working breed, so Haggis is an ideal companion for Ms McChord, who is a horse owner and rider. “Haggis offers companionship, she is a great trail dog, and a vermin eliminator. Rats and barns go together. Airedales need something to do.”

Her dog’s intelligence is one of the traits that draws Ms McChord close to Haggis.

“She’s super intelligent, ridiculously so,” she claims. “She knows about 25 words and she taught herself to open doors.”

It is also her dog’s intuitiveness that is an appealing quality.

“Haggis knows my moods. She’s with me all day. As the relationship with your dog evolves, they become a part of you. They reflect your emotions,” said Ms McChord, who believes that so powerful is the relationship between dogs and humans, that dogs can mirror their owners’ personalities. “An angry, spiteful person will have a mean dog. A skittish, timid person will have the same kind of dog. An outgoing, friendly soul will have a Lab.”

Mary Ellen Harris is also quick to praise dogs.

“I love dogs,” she says. She and her husband, David, own a seven-year-old golden retriever rescued from the pound named Maddie, and Sara Lee, a five-year-old Norwich terrier.

Maddie’s previous owner felt that the dog was uncontrollably hyperactive, but Ms Harris thinks it was a mismatch of personalities.

“She’s very intelligent,” said Ms Harris. “I think maybe she just wasn’t paid enough attention to. She’s a very loving dog.”

There is a give and take in the relationship of owner and pet, Ms Harris believes, but it is lopsided in favor of the canine.

“I think [dogs] are very giving,” she said. “They don’t ask anything of you. They are really underestimated. They can give back to you so much more than you can give them.”

Sara Lee came to the Harris household via Ms Harris’s step-daughter, Nikki, who breeds Norwich terriers. A vacation stay for Sara Lee extended into a few additional days and when Nikki saw how much her dad had fallen for the terrier, Sara Lee became a permanent addition to the Harris household.

“She’s a princess at my house, but she’s at queen at your house,” she told her stepmother, and Ms Harris added, “I love giving back to [the dogs] the love they give me.”

Jim Roodhuyzen added, “I think dogs are the best companions ever. They are amazingly loving. They seem to look at you and know how you’re feeling. They know when you’re happy and when you’re excited. I think that I have only been without a dog for 16 months total since 1971.”

Over the years, he has owned hounds, retrievers, big dogs, and small dogs. Three golden retrievers share his home at present and Mr Roodhuyzen walks with London, Luke, and Cairo every morning.

“It’s sharing part of existence with another animal,” he said. “I wrestle with them, I throw sticks for them, I talk to them all of the time. They don’t need to read my mind, because I’m always talking to them. My tone of voice can stop them in their tracks when they have done something wrong.”

The Roodhuyzen goldens are truly a part of the family and like most dogs, pick up on the dynamics in the household.

“A dog within a household will interact in a very different manner with each human,” he observed, “just like people have different relationships with other people.”

Betty Lou Osborne agrees that a dog relates to an individual in a manner reflective of that relationship. She has raised many dogs before the two golden retrievers and the Brussels Griffin terrier that are now her companions.

“The dogs have certain favorites among people,” she said. “They’re different toward each person.”

Each dog has its own quirks, too, she explained. Clark Kent, a 12-year-old golden, wants the door held wide before he goes out, for example, and she said of the terrier, Stuart Little, “He’s a delight. Stuart has a completely different attitude toward life: he’s a terrier.”

Her third dog is also a golden retriever, and Nellie, said Ms Osborne, loves to check out the wildlife on the farm.

“I can’t imagine being without a dog,” she added. “You know they are happy to be with you and it’s just fun.”

So fun, in fact, that the dogs join Ms Osborne in the pool for a swim, just like family. She has passed on her love of dogs to the rest of her family, as well. All of her children own dogs, but it is the dogs that belong to her son, Mike Osborne, who lives just down the road, that she sees most frequently.

Mike and his wife, Deb, own two Labrador retrievers, Lucas and Liza.

“When Mike’s dogs hear our dogs in the pool, they come up the road and join us,” laughed Ms Osborne. “We’re all dog people. They give us a great deal of pleasure.”

Mike added, “We have had dogs my whole life, all kinds. The dogs we have are kind of our ‘kids’ now that our children are grown. They travel with us to Maine and the seashore and I take them for long walks. They’re spoiled rotten, but they have a good time.”

To Mike, dogs epitomize loyalty and he echoes so many other dog owners’ sentiments.

“I can’t imagine not having a dog,” he said. “I think I’ll always have one.”

For some dog lovers, having one always is not an option when they move into assisted living quarters or nursing homes. Ashlar of Newtown tries to alleviate the void pet owners feel when they are permanently separated from their faithful companions. Betty Naylor, therapeutic recreational director at the facility, says that as long as a dog is well-behaved and has gone through some kind of formal obedience training, they are welcome to visit. The dog owner is responsible for the dog and papers must be filed with Ashlar proving that shots are up to date and that the dog is healthy. Formal therapy training, though, is not a requirement.

“We have a hospice worker who brings in her golden retriever once a week and another woman whose collie was a trained show dog who visits here with the dog,” said Ms Naylor. “Several adopted greyhounds visit through the efforts of John Manley of the Greyhound Rescue program.

Yet other volunteers bring in small dogs to interact with the patients at Ashlar. What is nice about having a variety of dogs visit the residents, Ms Naylor said, is that people in wheelchairs can easily pet the larger breeds, while small breeds can be place directly in the bed beside bedridden patients.

 “We have a dog here nearly every day,” she added. “We feel as though the dogs are an extension of [the residents’] families. It’s heartbreaking for residents when they can’t be with their pets anymore. Dogs get stopped by everyone. We have very few residents who are allergic or don’t like animals. Their faces light up like you wouldn’t believe. You have to see it to believe how much joy the dogs bring.”

Andrea Zimmermann willingly expounds on the joys of dog ownership. She owned Winston, a blonde cocker spaniel, for twenty years.

“Winston was good company all the years I lived alone and he was a good hiking buddy,” she said. After Winston died, the empty spot was filled when she and her partner, Bill Brassard, adopted Libby, an English Springer spaniel. “Libby reminds me of the things that make life so great. She greets each morning with such enthusiasm. She loves to play and finds joy in simple things – like eating ants on the deck!”

Ms Zimmermann defines a companion as a “mutually agreeable, voluntary, personal relationship” and believes that dogs are capable of meeting that definition, unlike many other pets. She also points out that dogs are pack animals, and unlike other pets, are willing to let humans become a part of their pack.

As with a human friend, Libby has qualities that endear her to Ms Zimmermann.

“Libby has a sense of humor,” she said, “which I’ve never seen in a dog before. It’s hard to explain, but it’s as if she really ‘gets it.’ She knows we’re doing something goofy, but pretends to be scared or surprised, again and again.”

Are dog owners a little nutty about their canine companions? Maybe, says Ms McChord, but sums it up by saying, “[Dogs] are the definition of loyalty. How often do we see that in this crazy world around us? I can’t live without a dog.”

When it comes to puppy love, not a dog owner around would disagree with Mark Twain, “Heaven goes by favor,” he once said. “If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”