As you have seen in the previous articles that dogs a re emotional, affectionate

creatures. In this article, we will see reasons that makes dogs special.

As a stepping stone to our article, we have to note that dogs are intelligent, they understand
quickly, and have feelings too. Dogs owners always appreciate the fact that they have such
loyal pets. Firstly, they are many reasons that makes dogs special, they are sociable creatures
that associate with humans. To this point, we have to talk about the beautiful and friendly
relationship that links humans to dogs. People usually prefer to adopt dogs because they are
smart and easy going. Another reason is that they care about their owners, and affectionate.

Dogs and humans are both sociable creatures, and their connection is natural. They both
benefit mentally by the presence of each other. Psychologically speaking, doctors, advice their
patients to adopt animals like dogs to get over chronic depression, and many other mental
diseases.

My affection for Xephos kicked in almost as soon as we brought her home—but I could tell
that (as I have hinted) this lovable little mutt wasn’t very smart. Stairs, for instance, posed
quite a challenge. The first house she lived in with us had an upper floor, which apparently
was quite a novelty for this little shelter dog. She followed me tentatively up the stairs the first
time, but then as I went back down, she just stood at the top and cried. Finally, she summoned
the courage to attempt a descent. It didn’t go well that first time, and she rolled and tumbled
down the last part. No harm done; she gradually figured out this strange human construction.
In 2013, the year after we adopted Xephos, I relocated from Florida to Arizona to start the
Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. This research center is devoted to
understanding dogs better, and to improving their lives and the lives of the people they live
with, by using the tools of behavioral science. Ros, Sam, and I moved to a house in Tempe
that we thought Xephos would like. It has no stairs and even has a little doggy door, so a pup
doesn’t have to ask permission each time she wants to go outside. But true to form, it took
Xephos weeks to figure out how to operate the thing—even with my attempts to explain how
it worked by opening it, putting treats on it, and showing her the outside world by lifting the
flap. She wasn’t quick on the uptake. Leashes were tricky for her too. I guess her previous
family had not taken her out for walks on a leash, because she was forever getting tangled in
this strange contraption. In her fascination for everything we came across, she kept walking
around me, so that the leash ran all the way around my legs. Or she’d walk on the other side
of a lamppost from me, not seeming to grasp why we couldn’t both move forward under such
conditions. It took a good couple of months before we could have a decent perambulation
around our neighborhood.
But while Xephos didn’t seem particularly quick-witted, she was (and

remains) wonderfully affectionate. Her sweet temperament was already apparent when we
picked her out at the shelter, and as soon as we brought her home she displayed a generally
warmhearted demeanor toward pretty much everyone she met (guys with beards being the
only exception—she hesitates a little with them). Furthermore, I was astonished at how
quickly she set to work to convince us that we were special to her. She seldom lets more than
a few feet of ground separate her from one of us. She never misses an opportunity to greet us
on our return home, and she loves nothing more than lying at our feet or on the sofa or bed
right next to us as we relax. Fortunately, we found that Xephos, unlike many millions of dogs,
did not get overtly upset when we had to leave her alone in the house, yet her pleasure at our
return clearly knew no bounds. She would make a considerable fuss, even when we had been
gone for only a few hours. On the rare occasions when we were forced to be away from her
for several weeks, she would cry so badly when we returned that it seemed she was in pain.
This sort of anguished relief inevitably made us feel terrible for having gone away for so long.
Even if there was nothing remarkable about dogs’ intelligence, I remained convinced—and
Xephos worked very hard to make sure I grasped this—that there is indeed something special
about dogs. I could spend all day at the office, reading and writing scientific papers about
dogs’ behavior, poking holes in the scientific literature about dogs’ supposedly unique
cognitive abilities. Yet when I came home to Xephos, her wild enthusiasm on seeing me again
—so great that it was hard to get in the door as she bounced up to kiss me, once or twice even
knocking my glasses off—made it impossible not to recognize that there was something quite
extraordinary about these animals, something that set them apart from all other creatures.