My introduction to the wonder of dogs came from my wife Robyn. She' s Australian. And Australia as lovingly recounted in Bill Bryson' s In a Sunburned Country. In a place， you cherish niceness in the animal kingdom. And they don' t come nicer than dogs.
Robyn started us off slowly. She got us a Border collie Hugo when our son was about 6. She knew that would appeal to me because the Border collie is the smartest species on the planet. Hugo could play outfield in our backyard baseball games： do flawless front door sentry duty， and play psychic weathermen announcing with a wail every coming thunderstorm.