Treat me kindly, my beloved friend, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart that beats inside of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I shall lick your hand between blows, remember that I have teeth that could easily crush the bones in your hands, but I choose not to bite you. Your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me learn. I live to please you.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail and the grin on my face when your footsteps fall upon my waiting ear. I wait for your arrival.

Please take me inside with you when it is cold and wet, for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to the bitter elements and I need my humans around me.

I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet or walking beside you.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean healthy food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding: to walk by your side and protect you with my life should you be in danger and spend all of my days protecting you and yours.

And, my friend, when I am very sick, or when I get very old and no longer enjoy good health, hearing, and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me with you. I am not having any fun. Go with me on difficult journeys. Everything is easier for me if you are there. I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands.