Dogs change lives. Half Buddha, half Bozo, they keep us tethered to the earth, and they teach us to fly. Our dogs are our sanity keepers. They are our suicide-prevention task force. (There I'd be with the gun in my hand, and Fenton would look at me and say, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" and of course he'd be right, as always.) They are the worthy and willing recipients of our fierce, unrelenting, and unconditional love. They are our personal trainers, our gurus, our reason to get up in the morning, our bed-warmers, our muses, our teachers, our hearts.
-Pam Houston, Forward A Year Without Dogs, Woman's Best Friend Women Writers on the dogs in their lives