Rabbi Rami Shapiro published an article in this month's Spirituality and Health online magazine--about why he loves dogs so much. 

You have to train a dog to be vicious. For humans, all it takes is religion, politics, or social media. Dogs are the ultimate Zen practitioners.

Luci, like all the dogs I know, is pretty Zen.  Dogs live in the moment and express their joy by wildly wagging their tails and jumping. 

"Freda's coming!" I tell Luci--and she bounds to the porch door and looks in the direction Freda comes from. 

Today I took her to get her heart worm pills at the vet's office.  Luci knows nothing of heart worms, but her nose is crazy with sniffing the ground before we walk in.  And then, surprise surprise, there are other dogs there and she's over-the-top happy to see them, big dogs, little dogs, doesn't matter.  Most dogs seems to instantly like each other.

Rabbi Shapiro continues:

"Some people have told me that I love my dog because my dog loves me. But that isn’t true. I think my dog loves anyone who feeds her, plays with her, walks with her, and does whatever it is she demands of them at the moment. She doesn’t love me because she is mine, she loves me because I am hers."

I like that.  I like belonging to a furry little Zen dog.  Unless there's another dog to distract her, she walks me very carefully, stopping at each step to make sure I'm keeping up.  She takes her job seriously--taking care of her limping human.