I used to say dogs are people too until one day it occurred to me, I was insulting the dogs! 

My dogs, including the dog in my life now, Charley, a 13-year-old black lab mix named after John Steinbeck’s Charley, of Travels with Charley fame, have never lied to me. Not even a fib on a molecular level. Moreover, I’ve never heard anyone complain to me about having a dog that lies. 

No dog in history that I’m aware of loves someone less (or more) if he or she gets fired, laid off, gets a job, gets a raise, or gets (or loses!) some fancy job title.

Dogs don’t care a whit what you look like. You can be tall, short, wide, thin, bald, or massively hirsute. Dogs don’t care if you’re heterosexual or a member of the LGBTQ community. They sure as hell don’t care about what, if any, religion or belief system you adhere to (or say you adhere to). 

And, they don’t give a hoot about your skin color! Pigmentation has no decision-making power in any species. It seems to me that dogs are more aware of this than a lot of us people folk are. (We can learn a lot from dogs.)

Dogs don’t care if you believe in God, or don’t believe in God. And, they don’t give a hoot what religion you are: Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Bahai and so on.

Dogs love you because you are you. If we could learn to love each other because of the content of our character, our lives, and the lives around us, would be a happier place to be.