The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend. – Lord (George Gordon) Byron

I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals” (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. – Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, 1907

The fatter the flea the leaner the dog. – Proverb

There is a drop of blood in the snow before me…. The coyote… is in estrus…. spurred to let out a bit of herself, sending a message, telling everyone she was now ready, that the clock of her winter was ticking toward spring. – Craig Childs, The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild