[rlmorel]

The fact that dogs are pack animals is also something I find interesting about them, because...when they are in your family, often, it is a family member who is the alpha dog! As a result, you do feel, on occasion, like some kind of deity with fawning subjects!

And cats...well, you have to appreciate their individuality! Plus, they do bring you back to earth when your britches get too big for yourself....

This pretty much says it all: Cat Friends versus Dog Friends!

[ansel12]

When I was in the Army in Washington state, I had a very intelligent, very alpha Keesehond.

When I would let him out I noticed that he would gather up the other neighborhood dogs and lead his little pack of a merry band around, and when my wife and I would take him for walks, he would take us up to their fences when they were back inside their yards, and he seemed so proud of my wife and I, as though he was showing us off to his buddies.

It was a very reals sense of that showing off going on. This was in 1972, so things were different about dogs being loose.