Man's best friend

"Man's best friend" is a common title given to domestic dogs, referring to their multi-millennia-long history of close relations, loyalty, friendship, and companionship with humans.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "In the oldest proverbs and phrases dogs are rarely depicted as faithful or as man's best friend, but as vicious, ravening, or watchful."

Winkle printed in The New-York Literary Journal, Volume 4, 1821:[5] In 1870, in Warrensburg, Missouri, George Graham Vest represented a farmer suing for damages after his dog, Old Drum, had been shot and killed.

Vest's "Eulogy of the Dog"[8] is one of the most enduring passages of purple prose in American courtroom history (only a partial transcript has survived).

The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

In 1958, a statue of Old Drum was erected on the Johnson County Courthouse lawn containing a summation of Vest's closing speech, "A man's best friend is his dog.