We all get moved by images we see. Some images make us angry, some make us sad, yet others will make us laugh. Here is an image of two dogs, and only God knows what is going through their heads. We can all speculate, yet 99% of us will be wrong. Why? Because no one but God knows.
People anthropomorphize animals in many ways, but often times the animals just do things themselves (without training) which remind us of human behavior. This behavior probably helped our ancestors understand other creatures that would help us get to where we are. Our ancestors needed both cats and dogs. Without cats, the Egyptians probably wouldn't have lasted very long. Early civilizations required a lot of food, agriculture is what allowed us to civilize. Lots of crops also means lots of pests like rats and other rodents that wanted that which humans needed to preserve for long periods of time. Cats controlled the rodent population and prevented famine. The humans who were more tolerated the cats, had crops eaten less.
As for dogs, they were predators, like us. They competed with us, but some of them were more subservient than others and made faces that invoked that empathy response. We learned that when we tossed them a bone from the remains of our kill, they reacted positively to our kindness. I'm sure we tolerated the dogs that we best understood, or at least the ones that acted friendly to us. In time men learned they could befriend and even train them to help in hunting and to be companions for our young. In return they defended the territory they considered theirs from other predators that would do harm to us.
There is an old legend that speaks as to why the dogs are so friendly to man. It began when the Lord divided the lands. We learn that the greatgreatgreatgrandson of Noah was Peleg. Peleg was born to Eber, which is where the name Hebrew came from. It was during the days of Peleg when the Lord divided the continents of the earth. Genesis 10:25 For instance, the land road we refer to as the Bearing Strait, between Alaska and Russia would have caved thus dividing two continents. Now it was at that moment when the Dogs chose man.
As the land bridge began to collapse the dog looked back at man, and at the last moment possible, it jumped back to the land that man was on and joined him instead of the rest of the animal world. While the rest of the animal world was separated by heart and mind from man, the dog chose to be of one mind and heart with mankind. Thus, through the years the dog has become man's best friend, while the rest of nature has been at odds with him.
As legends go, it's a cute one. We never truly will understand why God chose the dog to be so close to man, but the bond is one that no other two species enjoy. Do they need us, or do we need them. Who knows, but it is a bond that has lasted thousands of years, and I guess that when Christ returns there will be many who will ask our Lord if their friend can tag along.
