As a rule, I like to use my bully pulpit to put liberals in their place because they just keep asking for it and someone needs to slap them down. But this time out, I’d like to share what others have said on behalf of dogs.

After all, they are our best pals and our boon companions, ready to protect our homes and loved ones no matter how small they are. I know for a fact that even our Angel will rip the postman to shreds if he even thinks about setting one foot inside our house. Okay, perhaps she wouldn’t exactly rip him apart, but she would certainly bark at him until he caved in and scratched behind her ears.

Unlike the people in our lives, they don’t judge us by our looks, our age or even by our wealth or lack of it. And long before Martin Luther King, Jr., got around to mentioning it, they were judging us solely by our character and not the color of our skin.

But besides being the first line of defense at home, dogs have proven themselves to be the fiercest and most loyal soldiers at time of war, whether it’s the war on illegal drugs or the ones taking place on the battlefield.

So far as I’m concerned, in a nation where we dedicate days to honoring dead presidents, mothers, fathers, grandparents, secretaries and even the labor movement, it’s high time we devote a day to our beloved dogs.

But you needn’t take my word for it. If you’re looking for a second to my motion, consider the following testimonials:

“I used to look at my dog and think ‘If you were just a little smarter, you could tell me what you’re thinking’ and he’d look at me like he was saying ‘If you were just a little smarter, I wouldn’t have to.’” (Fred Jungklaus)

“I can’t think of anything that brings me closer to tears than when my old dog – completely exhausted after a hard day in the field – limps away from her nice spot in front of the fire, comes over to where I’m sitting and puts her head in my lap, a paw over my knee, and closes her eyes, and goes back to sleep. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve that kind of friend.” (An anonymous farmer)

“I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can’t get from any other source.” (Doris Day)

“We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made.” (M. Facidam)

“Dogs teach us many things about being a better person that people don’t or simply can’t teach us.” (An anonymous dog owner)

“A dog wags its tail with its heart.” (Anonymous)

“Some of our greatest historical and artistic treasures we place with curators in museums, others we take for walks.” (Roger Caras)

“In his grief over the loss of a dog, a little boy stands for the first time on tiptoe peering into the rueful morrow of manhood. After this most inconsolable of sorrows, there is nothing life can do to him that he will not be able to bear.” (James Thurber)

“While he has not, in my hearing, spoken the English language, my dog makes it perfectly plain that he understands it. And he uses his ears, tail, eyebrows, various rumbles and grunts, the slant of his great cold nose or a succession of heartrending sighs, to get his meaning across.” (Joan Little)

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” (Mark Twain)

“Dachshunds are ideal dogs for small children, as they are already stretched and pulled to such a length that the child cannot do much harm one way or the other.” (Robert Benchley)

“If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to Heaven, and very, very few persons.” (James Thurber) “Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole.” (Anonymous)

“When God created the world, he placed a widening abyss between man and the animals. At the very last possible second, the dog leapt across to be with man.” (Indian legend)

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence and nothing more, but I swear to you that our dog Angel just came over and licked my hand.