Perhaps it's a surprise to you, but one of my inspirations and role models as a family pet happens to come from the cat family.  I think this demonstrates how broad minded I am!
Calvin's friend, Hobbes, was a tiger who was a loyal friend to his companion and almost reached doglike intelligence with his philosophical musings and quips.  Of course Hobbes was only an imaginary creature and I am a quite real black Standard Poodle with a salt and pepper coat that flatters me.  Every young child should have a Buffy or a Hobbes to bounce things off of as he or she deals with the challenges of youth and adolescence.  A good friend with sound advice is hard to come by, and the real or imaginary pet is an anchor in the storm of hormones that swirl around the developing brain.  You know that your pet has your best interest at heart and that he or she will never talk about you behind your back.  You can converse with your pet in a spirit of mutual cooperation.  Your pet helps to stimulate your empathetic response as you realize he is dependent on you.  He wins in that you take care of him, and you win by becoming a better human being.  Life doesn't have to be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" as long as a Buffy or a Hobbes is in your life:)

 

Dogs don't spend a whole lot of time thinking great thoughts, due to the limitations of our cerebral connections.(There are some exceptions such as I).  We are fairly humble in this regard; at least most of us are.  We know that our instincts, evolved and honed over tens of thousands of years, are better guide posts to reality than what we happen to be thinking at any given moment.  The consciousness of the dog, the thinking part that makes decisions , has far too little capacity to process the amount of sensory information presented by the environment.  The rabbit would be long gone if I had to wait a moment and think about chasing it, whereas my instincts have me on top of it just like that!  If I was busy thinking about bandwidth and processing power, I might never realize dinner is being served and might ignore the glorious odors that my senses perceive.  Thought is overrated.  For a dog, just living its nature can be pure and sublime.  A dog in the forest, in the wild; senses activated, shields down, lives in unity with the force of life.  Humans can only marvel at the lack of self-consciousness, the naivete, the inherent dignity of the dog acting according to its nature.  Dogs see this in humans at times when we watch great athletes who are in the zone, or when great danger inspires heroic action.  From what a dog sees it's the nature of humans to believe that the world that they observe through the limited peephole of their consciousness is the real world.  They fail to take into account the signs and cues that their lower brain would have them consider, and they become alienated from nature and each other and fail to achieve the sublime.  We dogs, your best friends, would like to help you with this.  Just get down on all fours, and we'll get started.

 

Some dogs just aren't about hunting.  I believe it's a matter of breeding, although at the genetic level every dog still retains vestiges of its past hunter life, and retains the ability to revert to its instinctual wolflike character.  Still, it's obvious that those frou-frou dogs that you see on TV with their fancy sweaters and little hats have graduated from wolfdom and have become supermodels and fashion plates for the canine set.  I don't begrudge these dogs their opportunity for stardom and celebrity.  They should make it clear however that they are a special breed and that not all dogs appreciate "fashion" and are likely to get quite indignant if you try to put that Christmas sweater on me again this year!

Sometimes I wonder what alien dogs might look like.  Do they have big heads and thin torsos with little heart lights that grow brighter when they feel love?  The universe is a vast place it seems and new planets in distant solar systems are being discovered everyday.  It makes a dog feel somewhat insignificant in the overall scheme of things.  Then again, there's no proof that there are any other planets that support dog life.  Perhaps life only originated on this pale blue dot.  Either way, I know I am a unique creation in the annals of dog history.  My DNA has never been duplicated (unless I have a twin sister)  and I know that no other dog has had quite the same experiences as I.  One in a billion is what I am!  I hope my owners appreciate that fact.  I'm an intrepid dog and I aim to explore this vast cosmos.  Since my owners are kind of boring and watch TV too much, I have to explore through books, television and imagination.  I don't have a valid driver's license so I can't get through all of that airport security.  That limits my travel options.  I remember Lassie had free run of the world in her day; riding in the back of a pickup truck, nose in the air, smelling all of that farm manure.  Times have changed and my lot is to be a respectable suburban dog.  Still I dream big dreams.  Quite often in fact, since sleeping is my favorite pastime.

 

Since I belong to a tennis playing family, I try my best to help out when the family embarks on a trip to the courts.  As they gather their tennis bags, I follow them all over the house (and get under their feet on purpose) so that they don't forget that I want to play too.  If they are looking for tennis balls I go and check my stash under the living room couch and pick out the three best balls out of my large collection.  Of course there's no fuzz left on them and they're matted with dried saliva, but I think that's the way they like them since they always say, "thanks alot Buffy".  When the family cooperates and agrees to take me along, my next goal is to get them to let me out of the car.  I'll pant real hard so they know that it's too hot to leave me in the auto, even with the windows rolled down.  Finally I make it onto the court, but only if there are no other players there who might lose confidence if they see a dog outplaying them.  As the family plays I streak across the court, with Federer-like grace and balance, intercepting volleys and jumping over the net.  (Okay, I can't really jump across the net anymore). After a minute or two I'm tired.  Lifting a tennis racket is hard work for a dog, as is standing on our hind legs and shuffling.  Since I can't really play that well maybe I'll just become a model.  Maria, when you need a dog for your next commercial, forget about Dolce and ring me up.  Thank you darling !

You may notice from time to time that your dog is being willfully disobedient.  It might play out as a stubborn moment, when she won't come when she's called.  Perhaps she will turn up her nose at your offering of a treat. It's like she really knows that you are just trying to buy her off as you're scheming to leave the house without her.  Civil disobedience was invented by dogs long before Thoreau wrote his essay. ( I still recommend that you humans read it.)  Perhaps he was observing a dog when he thought of it.  As a modern dog, I will occasionally assert my right to be stubborn, obstinate and downright immovable.  When a dog takes her place in the family and accepts that she's probably not going to be the full time alpha, she must reserve some rights and methods of resistance in order to retain her dignity and keep her owner honest.  So at some time when you want your dog to take care of things before you leave for work, or you are packing a suitcase for a trip, or generally just want to get things done around the house; don't be surprised to see your dog displaying civil disobedience.  It's a better alternative than the angry behavior we sometimes see humans display when they don't get their way.  We dogs intend to keep things peaceful.  With enough love, affection and treats I'm sure you can assuage our hurt feelings and eventually get back in our good graces. That's right, rub me right behind the ear, yes right there, you're doing fine. 

 

Sometimes I wish I had super powers and a secret identity like Underdog had.  "There's no need to fear, Buffy is here!"  It just doesn't sound the same.  I doubt if the name Buffy would scare off any bad guys, unless they were vampires.  Of course it's easy to have no fear when you have superpowers, or you happen to have an armory full of high tech weapons at your disposal.  Underdog was a hero because in real life he was a shy shoeshine dog who would probably been taken advantage of and ridiculed if not for his secret stash of stimulant capsules that gave him his super powers.  We dogs admire the underdogs in life, but only if they succeed through hard work and studying.  We don't approve of the use of secret vitamins, that's why those scenes were edited out of the Underdog reruns.  I don't know where Underdog is today.  I imagine he's retired.  He should be honored because he is the only reason Polly Purebred lived to a ripe old age.  He also was single handedly responsible for the thriving phone booth replacement business in his town.  I try to use some of Underdog's inspiration in my own life.  When some big dog threatens the homestead, I start looking for my placebo  super energy pills , or run to my master who hopefully has a stash of weapons and remembers I'm the underdog.  "Never fret, Super Buffy is your pet!"  Why do you look so nervous boss ?

 

Dogs, like humans have a certain pedigree.  We get papers that document our parentage and the lineage of great show dogs that are in our ancestry.  Our genetic heritage is supposed to give a good indication of how we will turn out, in our behavioral tendencies and physical abilities.  Dogs are proud of the families they represent, and take these things quite seriously.  Many times dogs are shown great deference when they have a famous name, even before they have actually accomplished anything.  In general this breeding and the associated care that is lavished on the purebred dog results in a good proportion of offspring that exhibit the tendencies that the breeders aim for.  There is predictability in the larger populations of these offspring, but you can never predict the results for one specific dog.  As a purebred dog myself, with famous parents, I had a head start in life.  Even though I frequently find myself looking down at those dogs that don't have my good breeding and educational level, when I am really honest with myself I realize that my own position in the universe is largely an accident of birth, and that there but for the grace of Dog go I.  I usually give myself props for having such humble thoughts and again pass that generous outlook off to my good breeding and fine education.  I guess I'm just great.  Generally speaking that is, in my humble opinion.:)

 

Even though dogs aren't very "mathematical", I can tell the difference between 2 steak bones and 3.  The answer is a 2/3rds happy dog versus a holistically satisfied canine.  I often have dreams of differential calculus and nonlinear equations chaotically interrupting my attempts at a good nap.  I use geometry to figure out the exact path I need to take to get to the rabbit hole in my yard using a backdoor attack with triangulation.  Who knew that Pythagoras and I would become allies.  I wonder if he had a dog?  Dogs appreciate mathematics as a common language that we can use to communicate with you humans.  Mathematical laws and constructs apply across the entire universe, and given sufficient brain power can be ascertained by all species.  There aren't many dogs that are going to demand that third steak bone from you, most are happy to get just one.  A beautiful mind like mine sees the harmony and spiritual power of a trinity of steak bones, so please hand it over.  Por favor!

Whoever it was, let's give him a medal.  Dogs love nature, open spaces, running, sunshine and fresh air.  Whoever let the dogs out should have a statue erected to him or her , and homage will be paid to this fine specimen of humanity during our daily dog devotions.  Right now, as I write this, I am cooped up in the house while the rabbits and squirrels run free outside my window.  I wish whoever let the dogs out would pay a visit to my humble abode and let me out for the afternoon.  Who let the dogs out ?  It could be you!