Can Dogs Have Best Friends?

Some people have best friends, so do you think that dogs can also have them?

The following article made me think, and I would be interested to know what other people think about it.

http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-exp...e-best-friends

That's a lovely story. I definitely agree that dogs can have best friends. My two little ones were sisters and grew up together and they definitely were best friends. I know what people say about having two bitches from the same litter, but they never quarrelled or fought and they were almost inseparable. I did make a point to do some training separately so they would get some time away from each other, but I don't think that was even necessary.
When Lasqa was old and ill two years ago and my mum didn't want to put her through the stress of going to the hospital and have loads of tests etc. done on her, she made the hard decision of letting her go. But she called the vet out to her house who then gave Lasqa the injection while her sister was there next to her.
I think this was really important for both, Lasqa went to sleep surrounded by her family and Musette got to see and understand that Lasqa was gone. Apparently she led down next to her body for quite a while, just resting there. Then they took Lasqa and buried her outside under a tree.
I think it would have been really difficult for Musette if they'd taken Lasqa down to a vet to put her to sleep. She would have waited for her return and not understood that she was really gone. But that way, it gave her some closure. Every now and then she get a little confused and looks around for something, but lets it go again. And one time, my mum was on a walk with Musette, there was a little dog in the distance that looked a bit like Lasqa and Musette just lit up, bounded over really happy to go greet the dog, until she realised it wasn't her..
I truly think they were best friends.

Absolutely!! I believe they can have a best friend. Tynan and Timber are extremely close to each other. Timber is constantly grooming Tynan and Tynan will go to Timber for affection. I call them ying and yang. Timber can do anything to Tynan and he's ok with it and vice versa. I've seen that they won't let other dogs do some of the things they can do to each other. For example, they play pretty rough sometimes and Timber grabs hold of Tynan's back legs while playing. If another dog were to do that to Tynan he wouldn't have any of it. I'm not saying they don't play with other dogs, they do, just not as intimate like they do with each other. Same with Timber.

In my opinion - without a doubt.

Skye and Fingal were very close although they grew up together from pups.

IMG_9285 by dinners85

I would put it this way, dogs like to bond and it can be with other dogs, humans and even other animals.
Sometimes they bond with one individual more than others and these could be described as 'best friends' .

The more I think about it, the more I wonder. My Griffons were a family so had each other and also me, so included me in their family.

My Little One just had me until I brought Pereg home - and even then although they got on well together, Little One would frequently go off by herself to get away from, in her thoughts, "that nuisance puppy". But on the whole they got on fine together, probably because LO could always go off by herself and Pereg seemed to understand why.

Now? Pereg and I have a symbiotic relationship where I think she loves me as much as I love her. Whether or not she understands that the medication I give her is for her benefit or not, who knows. She probably has no idea what it is or what it is form.

But she needs me to medicate her, and I need her as a reason to get up each morning.

But I am not a dog and I do not know whether she could ever be a "best friend" with another dog. I would certainly never class myself as her "best friend" because I do not think that the bond she and I have is of a friend-ship kind. But articles such as the one to which I linked, makes me think about the relationship most of us have with our dogs.

Absolutely, I think so. My Brownie's best friend was not a dog... but he had a best friend nonetheless. Admittedly, none of my dogs have been super close, but my Pooks and him were inseparable.

Since he died, she won't let either of the other dogs be her friend... and her health has also declined. She misses him immensely (as do I) but they most certainly were best friends. Sorry for the long photo reel, but I think it's hard to deny how close they were.

That reminds me of another set of best friends. Because my two little dogs were so close, they never really bonded with our third dog, Wassily (also because he was a giant clutz).
Wassily was only about 10months when I got Hermes as a kitten. After a week or two where I had to tell Wassily not to jump on Hermes, they became best friends and Hermes would usually sleep on top of Wassily's fluffy coat He thought he was a dog himself

That is a great photo, Florence. It always amazes me that cats and dogs, who are supposedly enemies... often tend to bond so well when in the same house.

BTW, those Gentle Giants like Wassily are #1 candidates for cats to take advantage of, huge, soft coat, calm... and doesn't even notice if a 10 lb cat is on him!

Also, that photo reminds me of this one:



Thinks it's similar, yes?