"In Zoroastrianism, the dog is regarded as an especially beneficent, clean and righteous creature, which must be fed and taken care of. The dog is praised for the useful work it performs in the household, but it is also seen as having special spiritual virtues. A dog's gaze is considered to be purifying and to drive off daevas (demons). It is also believed to have a special connection with the afterlife: the Chinwad Bridge to Heaven is said to be guarded by dogs in Zoroastrian scripture, and dogs are traditionally fed in commemoration of the dead. Ihtiram-i sag, "respect for the dog", is a common injunction among Iranian Zoroastrian villagers.

Detailed prescriptions for the appropriate treatment of dogs are found in the Vendidad (a subdivision of the Zoroastrian holy scripture Avesta), especially in chapters 13, 14 and 15, where harsh punishments are imposed for harm inflicted upon a dog and the faithful are required to assist dogs, both domestic and stray, in various ways; often, help or harm to a dog is equated with help and harm to a human."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_in_r ... astrianism

Dogs were pretty important to the Celts too. They were considered healers because of the tendency to lick wounds in order to clean them.

Dogs are very special. It ire's me when someone says dogs are basic animals and just mime your actions. I have a friend, very close and also a girlfriend at different stages in my life. She found she had depression and it was pretty hard on her. At one time, she was very depressed and something drove her to find an animal as a companion. On the outside, you could not see her pain, but it was a lot of pain. When she went to the shelter, she found this beautiful Lab just sitting curled up in a ball . The Lab looked up at her, sighed, and turned her head. She thought there was something different about the Lab so she took her.

Sunshine, as she became known, was such an amazing creature. She always knew what you needed emotionally. They went through some hard times together, but Sunshine was always there. I was at my girlfriends one day. She hated my friend though she didn't know her. My phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but something told me to answer. It was a paramedic. Turns out my friend had been in her car crying all day and someone finally called 911 to report her. They told me if I didn't come, they would take her to a psych hospital and put Sunshine in a shelter. I said I would be right there. I got up and told my girlfriend that I had to go and told her why I had to go. She got really mad and told me that if I went out that door to help her, I could never come back there to see her again. I said "Fine, if that's the way you feel, I won't be back because this is more important to me than trying to suppress your jealousy. And, you would be lucky to find someone like me that would drop everything to go save your sister if she had a problem. I guess this is goodbye." Then I left.

I got to the car and the paramedic left her in my care. She got back in the car and started crying again. Poor Sunshine was so agitated and kept barking at her. She would get her snout and kept trying to lift up her head. At first, I was getting really mad because I thought she would just go home but that wasn't what she did. But I looked at Sunshine and looked at her and told her if she wanted to stay here and cry all night, I would stay with them until she decided to go home. She was trying to find her cigarettes at some point and couldn't. I told her to drive her car to 7-11 (which happened to be pretty close to her home) and that I would follow her and buy her some cigs and then we could come back here and she could get all of this out of her system. She gave me a big smile and said OK. We went and got her cigs. When we walked out, she asked me to follow her home, which I did.

We got inside and she was so happy to be home. Sunshine got on the bed and waited for her to come to bed. She was so exhausted and so was Sunshine. They both passed out. I think if it wasn't for Sunshine's efforts, who knows what would have happened. But for hours, she kept trying to lift her head up and kept putting her head under her chin. Amazing.

A few years back, Sunshine started to get sick. She was around 20. She was having trouble walking so my friend asked if I could get her a cart so she could take Sunshine around her usual walk area. I went out and got her a really nice flat gardening cart. I was at home and she called and asked if I could please come over and assemble it. I had so many things to do and really didn't want to drive all the way over there, but she had an urgency about it so I said OK. I built the cart and she got Sunshine and her other dog Daisy and was getting ready to take them around. I told her to make a bed and get up there with them and I would take them all for a walk. She was happy and I got them all together and put them on the cart.

I looked at Sunshine and she looked at me with a very tired look. I gave her a kiss and told her to hang in there. When we were on the way back, almost to her house, she was calling for Sunshine. Sunshine passed away when we got her to the house. It was heartbreaking for me. I paid for an animal cremation service to come pick her up right then. I can still in my mind, see her crying, holding Sunshine and unzipping the body bag to make sure she was really gone. It broke my heart. She came home in a nice little white house and a cast of her paw print.

I, to this day, can't believe that Sunshine stayed alive long enough for one more walk, so she could make her happy. She was so amazing. I love dogs. They are full of life.