If dogs had a God

An inadvertent comment I made in my last post brought me to this strange thought. Some will instantly say dogs, and all animals for that matter have a god, and that god is the one that those same people worship.

I would prefer to delve into fantasy and believe that dogs would have their own god, in whatever form it might take. Question is, for an animal that is 'mans best friend', would their god take the form of a dog or a human? And, if it were a dog, what dog would it be.

A human god would satisfy our vanity and belief that dogs serve us and look to us for leadership. The trouble with this theory is that dogs only do so if that leadership is present. If it isn't, problems arise in behaviour that can often be addressed by introducing or reinstating that human leadership role.

Of course the debate on leadership and the role of the human as pack leader is equally debated among some trainers and behaviourists - some believe we humans are firmly part of the dog pack and must assume leadership or face being ousted. Others that humans are not in the pack, but a separate leadership group.

Therefore a dog god must be a dog. Right?

If so, what dog would it be. It has to have a physical presence of some kind to satisfy our idolisation, an image to present and market much in the same way we still present 'our' view of god as an aged man with long white beard and hair wearing white robes.

Many breed-specific fans would no doubt nominate their own type to take the place as god among dogs. I can think of some that would fit the bill - German shepherd perhaps, or a great Dane? But how cute would it be for the god of dogs to be a jack russell? A terrier certainly has the mental capacity to keep all eyes on all things (or as many things) as it possibly can, thereby satisfying the requirement of a dog god to be everywhere.

Or perhaps, more significantly the dog god should be a mongrel, a cross-breed of every breed that has ever existed, a form that continues to slowly change in form as new breeds come into being. Quite what such a dog would look like is beyond description, though my own 17 year old could fit the bill. How would I describe him? Well he's medium sized, long thin legs, with evidence in his back legs of good muscle in his younger days. He has a Mickey Mouse face, white but with brown fur surrounding his eyes. His muzzle is quite long, and his ears half-prick and long. He has a double coat, with a relatively short but soft coat in the summer, blooming into a woolly bush in the winter. He continually sheds. He has a bellowing bark, but can be as quiet as a mouse. He gets all with all dogs and never displays aggression to them. He could be the dog god.