Before dogs were pets, they were coworkers. Humans bred them — deliberately and over centuries — to perform specific tasks: hunt, herd, guard, retrieve, track, haul, and sit in the laps of very important people. Every physical trait, every behavioral tendency, every inexplicable habit was, at some point, a design feature.
I didn't like my dog. I don't know that I hated him, but I had a very intense dislike for him. He had turned my daily life into something I was just trying to survive. This is the story of how Pike — the dog who almost broke me — became the dog I cannot imagine my life without.
