“Who’s a good dog?!” They’re ALL good dogs, that’s who! Big or little, pedigree or mutt, rolling in stinky stuff, or stealing a T-bone meant for the barbecue grill, dogs are humankind’s best hope for sanity in trying times. Dogs are eternally optimistic and somehow know how to comfort the more fragile human psyche.

In A Life with Dogs Roger Welsch celebrates his lifelong admiration (as well as envy) of the canine spirit. And yet, for all their evident intellectual transparency, dogs also seem to have an understanding of life—and death—well beyond the grasp of those who think they own them. Dogs are great friends, nurses, workmates, and, if we are good students, great professors of philosophy. Roger laughs and wonders at their wile and beauty—and always appreciates that, wild or domestic, they know more about humans than we may ever know about them.

Roger still mourns the dogs he has lost, and though he missed having a warm ear to rub now and then, he dared not risk further loss. Then an older dog in need came along, and Roger adopted Triumph, the Compliment Dog. With humankind’s best friend nearby, all is not lost.