Kirk Jordan

153230099
WRT 122
Sample Essay Format

Mans’ Best Friend

Dogs are a common sight in almost every part of the world. Some researchers believe that

“wolves and dogs split into different species around 100,000 years ago” (Animal Freedom, n.d.).

In the past, dogs were probably used for hunting and herding. While this is still true today, dogs

are used for a variety of purposes, and dogs benefit humans’ lives in many different ways. Dogs

have been trained to provide a variety of services for people. For example, dogs can be used as

service animals, for various types of security roles, and, of course, for pets. In fact, dogs are our

best friends.

Some dogs are trained to provide services to people. For example, guide dogs (also called

“seeing-eye” dogs) are trained to assist blind people. Dorothy Harrison is credited with

beginning the formal training of guide dogs, after visiting a school in Potsdam, Germany that

trained German Shepherds to assist blinded German war veterans (Muhlenberg College, n.d.). It

is difficult to know the exact number of guide dogs in service worldwide, but it is estimated that

there are about 10,000 dogs assisting blind people in the United States and Canada (Guide Dogs

for the Blind, n.d.). Guide dogs assist blind people with everyday tasks such as walking and

shopping, and give them the confidence to live more active lives. These service dogs have given

many blind people freedom and independence again.

Dogs have also been trained to provide specialized security services. It is not uncommon

to see drug-sniffing (detection) dogs at the airport screening luggage and cargo for illegal drugs.

Depending on the breed, a dog can smell up to 10 million times better than a human because they
have as many as 300 million scent glands, compared to about five million in humans (Dog Breed

Info Center, n.d.). In fact, bloodhounds are a particularly useful for search-and-rescue operations

and for tracking criminals. According to the Dog Breed Info Center (n.d.), they have been known

to follow scents over four days old for over 100 miles, and their “evidence is admissible in a

court of law.” Having a dog on the job makes us feel safer and more secure. Security dogs

provide an extra level of protection that humans can not accomplish on their own.

Of course, dogs are most often kept as pets. Although some researchers believe that

wolves and dogs diverged around 100,000 years ago, the “first demonstrable signs of

relationships between humans and wolves date back 10,000 to 15,000 years ago” (Hirst, 2008).

In the United States, almost two-thirds of households have a pet; that statistic translates to about

78 million dogs and 86 million cats that are classified as pets (ASPCA, 2012). Dogs have even

been known to alert their owners to dangers such as fires or robbers, and many dog owners

consider their dog as member of the family. In Japan, a dog named Hachiko, would follow his

owner each day to the train station, and wait at the train station each evening for his owner to

return. Even after his master’s death, Hachiko “kept this routine and waited for his master at the

station for the next 11 years until his death” (Thangham, 2007). People enjoy dogs as pets for

many reasons, but companionship and loyalty are probably the two most common ones. It would

be difficult to find a human friend as loyal as a dog.

Some people would disagree that dogs are mans’ best friend. They think dogs smell bad,

make too much noise, or may bite people. But, because of the benefits they provide, there are

many reasons why dogs are our best friends. For example, they provide valuable services to the

blind, and they are equally important to law-enforcement officers to locate illegal drugs, track
criminals, and find lost hikers or buried earthquake survivors. In addition, they have proven to be

loyal friends and faithful companions.

George Graham Vest said:

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the
one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is
his dog (History Place, n.d.).

Dogs have enriched the lives of people in a variety of ways. It is easy to understand why dogs are

mans’ best friend.