Dog Dance

@Ina: Thank you.

@Amir: Plus je vois l'homme,
plus j'aimie mon chien

--- Pascal ---

EPITAPH TO A DOG

Near this spot Are deposited the Remains
Of one Who Possessed Beauty
Without Vanity,Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man
Without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning
flattery If inscribed over Human Ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the
Memory of "Boatswain," a Dog
Who was born at Newfoundland,
May, 1803,
And died at Newstead Abbey
Nov. 18, 1808.

--- Lord Byron ---

*****************************************

MONUMENT TO A DOG

When some proud son of man returns to
earth, Unknown to glory, but upheld by
birth, The sculptor's art exhausts the
pomp of woe, And storied urns record who
rests below. When all is done, upon the
tomb is seen, Not what he was, but what
he should have been.
But the poor dog, in life the firmest
friend, The first to welcome, foremost
to defend, Whose honest heart is still
his master's own, Who labors, fights,
lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonored falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth
-- While man, vain insect! hopes to be
forgiven, And claims himself a sole
exclusive heaven.

Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt
by power--
Who knows thee well must quit thee with
disgust, Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all
a cheat, Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy
words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush
for shame. Ye, who perchance behold this
simple urn, Pass on--it honors none you
wish to mourn. To mark a friend's remains
these stones arise;
I never knew but one--and here he lies.

--- Lord Byron ---
Inscription on the monument of his
Newfoundland dog, 1808

@Gary: Thank you.

@JoeB: He looks even funnier in motion.

@MaryB: Thank you.

@Daroru: He is exceptionally funny at times.

@Cerys: So, what are we talking here, Irish Wolfhound, Mastiff, or bigger Dane? Mine is not particularly large for a Dane, but he does seem to impress most of the people around here.