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Comment by codecutter | Hacker News Reader

Beautiful story.

I want my children to have a dog Or may be two or three They'll learn from them more easily Than they will learn from me. A dog will teach them how to love, And have no grudge or hate I'm not so good at that myself But a dog will do it straight I want my children to have a dog, To be their pal and friend So they may learn that friendship Is faithful to the end. There never yet has been a dog That learned to double cross Nor catered to you when you won Then dropped you when you lost.

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Thank you. I stupidly tried to read this to my wife just now and ended up a blubbering wreck, because all of those dogs are now gone. The lurcher died of cancer 2 years ago, and Lily, the lovely old greyhound we got as his companion, died 2 months ago (14 years old, so no complaints)

We're getting two rescues next month. Greyhounds again.

We've had 3 greyhounds, all died of cancer, two of bone cancer. Seems to be the curse of the greyhounds. It's lovely that you'll be adopting again. Tracks in the US have mostly closed, the waiting list for retired racers are long. UK and Ireland still have many retired racers, but the cost to transport them to the US is quite prohibitive. I quite envy you, and wish you much love with your new darlings.

My most previous greyhound would play bite, which indicates to me he knew what a real bite does. On occasions I have said "ow ow" he would stop immediately and looked at me with surprise. I have also stepped on him or otherwise jostled him by accident, and I immediately and profusely said "sorry, sorry", and he would lick my hand as if he understood it was a mistake. Am I anthropomorphising the behavior? I've never doubted that dogs could differentiate what is intentional and unintentional.

I love watching human dog behavior from a distance. The moment when a human steps on a dog and then turns around to address the dog and provide comfort is like predictable poetry.

It isn't just that dogs know when it was a mistake or not, they do, they also want the apology. Apologies are always key, even if predictable.

my interest in animals has waned as I've aged.

I believe this is because I didn't know how to win another thing's affection. A dog just gives it to you. Unconditionally.

That's a common misconception - dogs don't give anyone affection unconditionally. They have varying degrees of _loyalty_ (some dogs will keep attached someone that beats them), but overall, they clearly evaluate the benefits of the relationship, pick favorites, etc. Like any other animal (humans included) :-)

That’s a lovely poem. Any idea where it’s from? Googling brings up only this comment, and a scan of a dog training club newsletter from 1995 with no attribution.

From slightly more googling:

https://books.google.com/books?id=qQeGw2mIy9kC&pg=PA22&lpg=P...

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