But how did the moniker ‘man’s best friend’ come about? Or more importantly, why isn’t it ‘woman’s best friend’? I know I’m not a big dog lover - a ‘not as distant as I would like’ memory of what I thought was a friendly pooch who liked me but then sank a jawful of molars into my soft yielding flesh - means that my tentative approach to any four legged barking creature is met with the assumption by its owner that “you don’t like dogs, do you?” And aside from that, in my home as a child, there was always a menagerie of animals - cats, budgies, rabbits, tropical fish - but never dogs. As an adult, I’ve generally always had a cat as a pet (apart from one occasion when I tried to breed sea snails but that’s another story) and I must admit, they are so much easier to manage, not having to be taken for endless walks, never ‘needing’ company - my current incumbent would disagree, he’s sooo needy of cuddles - and it’s much easier when going away to be able to find someone as a cat sitter without having to take out a small loan to pay for their services. 

 

So, ‘man’s best friend’ they may be but I’ll stick to my onsite gym for my exercise thank you very much.