Good lessons in your post for us human beans...
This is actually an original thought and not something I heard somewhere... I think that words, "GOD" and "dog" were very deliberately given to us as mirror images of one another because our relationships with each are provided as reflections for us to meditate upon.
A healthy dog responds positively to, and lives to please his master. A dog's master is heartbroken and angered when the dog disobeys, but the master loves him nonetheless. A good master wants what's best for the dog, even if the dog doesn't realize or understand.
Sometimes the master's voice is best heard in whipsers and not in shouts.
I think of my current shep, and all my past dogs and how their tails would wag and how their greatest pleasure was to please me as their master. They've set a rather high standard for relationships with their master; standards I'll most likely spend the rest of my life trying to achieve in my relationship with mine.....;-)