Happy International Dog Day!!!

(It was actually yesterday.)

Every August 26th is all about Man's best friend. Next to cats, dogs are the most beloved and legendary pets ever, renowned for their loyalty, selflessness, and loving affection. Dogs are the descendants of wolves, a wild dog that received an otherwise negative image in western culture. Back when all humans were hunter-gatherers, the late Pleistocene wolf would be drawn to us for food and safety. Eventually, 15,000 years ago, these extinct wolves would be adopted and become the first domesticated dogs. Over the millennia, different types of dogs would develop, being selectively bred for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. These breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship, therapy, and aiding disabled people. There would be hunting dogs, like hounds and sporting dogs; working dogs; terriers; herding dogs; companion dogs, and toy dogs. There are more than 200 breeds throughout the world. There is even an ancient breed of dog that came to be in Australia, dingoes, which were bred by the Australian Aboriginals.

Dogs have been made famous in myths and legends, depicted to symbolize guidance, protection, loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, alertness, and love. In ancient Mesopotamia, dogs were the symbol of Ninisina, the goddess of healing and medicine, and her worshippers frequently dedicated small models of seated dogs to her. In the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, dogs were used as emblems of magical protection. In China, Korea and Japan, dogs are viewed as kind protectors. Dogs would often serve as pets and watchdogs for the divine and diabolic. Dogs guarding the gates of the underworld were a common element throughout Indo-European mythologies. In Greek mythology, Cerberus was a three-headed watchdog who guarded the gates of the Greek Underworld. He was one of the many offspring of the mother of monsters, Echidna, and another multiheaded dog was one of his siblings, the two-headed guard dog, Orthros. In Norse mythology, the realm of the dead, Hel, was guarded by Garmr. In Persian mythology, two four-eyed dogs guarded the Chinvat Bridge. In Welsh mythology, Annwn was guarded by Cŵn Annwn. In Hindu mythology, Yama, the god of death, owns two watchdogs who have four eyes, guarding over the gates of Naraka.

Like their feline counterparts and wild relatives, dogs are very intelligent. They can learn by inference and have advanced memory skills. Dogs can read and react appropriately to human body language such as gesturing, pointing, and human voice commands. Since dogs were domesticated, they may have lost much of their original problem-solving abilities once they joined humans. Despite this, dogs have acquired the ability to understand and communicate with humans more than any other species and they are uniquely attuned to human behaviors.

Dog Day was established by Colleen Paige, an animal welfare advocate and pet lifestyle expert, to celebrate all breeds and mixes of dogs to help increase the number of dogs that are rescued each year. The day is all about paying tribute to these incredible animals who work selflessly to bring comfort, keep us safe, and save lives. Every day, these animals put their lives on the line. There are dogs that protect our safety and freedom by detecting drugs and bombs, as well as those that pull victims from wreckages and tragic situations. Plus, we have dogs for the disabled, blind, and law enforcement. From these heroic dogs to our family friends, these dogs hold special places in our lives, and so it is only right that we honor them.

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, dogs have also been domesticated by ponies. Applejack has a border collie named Winona. She's as hardworking as her pony friend and enjoys helping her herd the flock. Pegasus filly, Zipporwhill, owns a dog named Ripley. She adopted him when he was a puppy, but she had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that her puppy grew into a full-grown dog. Besides standard dogs, Equestria also has mythical dogs. First, we were introduced to Cerberus, the same three-headed dog from Greek mythology. Just like his original counterpart, he is charged with the task of guarding the gates to the nightmare realm known as Tartarus, being responsible for preventing the evil trapped behind the gates from escaping. Despite his fearsome appearance, he can be sweet like any dog, especially when in Fluttershy's presence. Then, there was the Orthros, a breed of two-headed dog of the same name. These canines are shown to give obedience difficulties to both his original owner and prospective owner. They can be a bit clumsy, and their tails have a habit of knocking things down and breaking them. Despite them being tough to manage, Orthros are rather good-natured at heart, especially if Fluttershy is with them. Even she can reassure you that with a little patient training (and a big slobber mop), they can be a wonderful household pet. Then, there is a race of dog creatures called the Diamond Dogs. Distinguished by their large eyes with slit pupils and elongated, gorilla-like arms, these canines desire gemstones. The only representatives of their race that appeared in TV series were a trio named Rover, Spot, and Fido, as well as an army of armored Diamond Dogs. They kidnapped Rarity to search for gems, but her cunning (and whining) discouraged them and freed her. In the comics, there was a kingdom called Caninia, which is ruled by six queens.

In My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Spike the dragon would turn into a puppy whenever visiting the EQGirls World. At the same time, Sci Twi owns a puppy, who serves as Spike's EQG counterpart. Even in this world, dogs are beloved pets. Practically every human, including Bulk Biceps, owns one. Supernova Zap of PostCrush owns a little dog named Princess Thunder Guts, who at one point got lost and was found thanks to Dog Spike, who developed romantic feelings for her. Dogs will always be everybody and everypony's best friends.

First of all, I'm sorry for the delay. I just learned about this this morning from my computer. Although I made vectors of Winona, the Orthros, and the Diamond Dogs, I didn't have vectors of Cerberus, Ripley, Dog Spike, and Thunder Guts. It took three to four hours to work on Cerberus, and two hours + for Spike. Ripley and Thunder Guts were quicker. I already had an idea for the background - a backyard, where we would usually play with our pooches. And since I made one for my past projects, all set. Now normally, I wouldn't include bad guys, but Rover, Fido, and Spot were the only Diamond Dogs to appear in the TV series; the comics don't count in this case. So, their inclusion is the exception to my rule. I know there were more dogs in both MLP:FIM and MLPEQG, but I didn't find the time. I might have to update this again with either one more dog or a change in the background.

I mentioned back in my Cat Day project, I'm currently a cat owner. My family and I used to have two dogs - a Brittany spaniel named Wilson, and a black saluki, Puppup. They were such dear and best friends of ours. Unfortunately, like all living creatures, they left us. Puppup had to be put down before I finished the 7th grade, and Wilson died a year later. I was heartbroken beyond imagination with each of their passings, to the point I didn't feel comfortable adopting another dog. Since then, we would only adopt cats. I will never forget those wonderful dogs. They will always be in my heart.

#internationaldogday