There is a familiar saying, "If you want loyalty, get a dog." It is usually intended as a humorous observation about the reliability of a dog's devotion compared with the unpredictability of human relationships, but perhaps there is something deeper hidden inside the saying.
What if loyalty is not, in fact, an inherently human faculty?
We often describe ourselves as loyal, yet human loyalty can be influenced by circumstance, self-interest, emotion, convenience, status, expectation, and personal gain. We may remain loyal while a relationship serves us or withdraw that loyalty when circumstances change. Then there is the dog.
Something fundamentally different from us can display what we often consider one of our highest human virtues with remarkable consistency.
Perhaps this raises an uncomfortable question.
What if the creature most capable of giving us what we innately desire is one that does not possess the very human complications that make those qualities difficult for us?
We want acceptance without constantly proving our worth. We want companionship without negotiation. We want affection without keeping score. We want loyalty without wondering when it might disappear.
A dog does not appear to calculate these things in the way humans do.
Perhaps loyalty is not a uniquely human trait at all. Perhaps it is a capacity we admire precisely because it is difficult for us to sustain without conditions.
And perhaps that explains why we are so moved by it when we encounter it in another species.
The irony may be that something so different from us can demonstrate something we believe should define us.
Maybe the dog is not simply man's best friend. Maybe it is a reminder of the kind of loyalty we seek from others, and perhaps the kind of loyalty we should aspire to give ourselves.