When we talk about man’s best friend, I understand that we are referring to mankind. But, I nevertheless feel that to be fair, a less gender specific noun might be in order. Perhaps we could call this collection Human’s Best Friend or even better, Woman’s Best Friend, since based on my experience, when the animal belongs to a family, it is usually the woman who does all the work. It was always that way in our family. Mom cared for, fed, cleaned up after and chauffeured every dog or cat to the vet that we ever provided a home for.

And while we’re having this discussion why, out of the entire animal kingdom has the dog been singled out as our best friend? The phrase’s origin has been attributed to Frederick II, King of Prussia in reference to one of his Italian greyhounds, but why should we take the word of a dead dictator? I happen to be a cat person.  I love dogs but have always felt that although they may be nice to visit,  you wouldn’t want to live there.

All of this is moot however since this collection includes a number of very different species of best friends as I like to please everyone.  Maybe I should  just call it Critters and be done with it.  I hope you will find your preferred animal friend included in this collection.