nimoosh

The Anishinabe (Ojibwe/Odawa/Potawotami) say that the Creator placed dogs on the earth specifically to be the companions of men/women . . . of all the winged creatures and four-leggeds placed in this world, we will always be closest to dogs for that reason . . .

I was never a big pet person--take em or leave em, but:
when we were living on my wife's reserve in Canada (Wikwemikong), we inherited a german shepard/labrador mix named Waub. Like all dogs on the rez, he came and went when he wanted-- no leash, etc . . .
my wife was pregnant with our daughter and she gets a crazy craving for some chocolate and a Coke--insists I go to town to get one. It's 10 km to town (6.2 miles for the metrically-challenged)-- we lived off on the family farm, in the middle of nowhere, nearest neighbors are about half a mile down the road, so I start riding this mountain bike someone left propped against the barn.
the dog comes trotting out of the woods as i start down the road-- wants to go with me-- i yell at him and throw rocks at him to make him go home-- he refuses so I just start pedaling, ignoring the stupid mutt.
all along the path, every time I come to a driveway, all these mangy unleashed Rez dogs come tearing after me-- Waub takes on all the dogs, keeping them away from me-- he does this the whole 10km to town and the whole 10km back. Damn dog saved my butt.
some idiot ran him over after we moved back to the states and broke his back--one of the neighbors shot him dead on the road "to put him out of his misery." lucky i wasn't still living there, might've done the same to the neighbor . . .
that dog was something else-- whenever my son would go wandering off, looking for wild strawberries, he would always tag along with him and he was extra careful around him (Z-man was only 2 1/2 at the time). He'd knock me on my butt, just for fun, though . . . I even drove that dog to the vet's in the middle of a snow storm because he got in a fight with a porcupine and lost . . . anytime the temps went below zero, we'd let him sleep inside (unheard of--the rest of the family gave me grief about that).
Some animals are just special as hell, transcending the status of mere pet, and they become part of your family . . .