“Because, ladies and gentleman, history teaches us that in the night of time, in the days of the pre-history, when the first path and the first human road appeared, then, as now, next to that road, you could find the noble and faithful four legged friend. The companion of all time, in joy and suffering, in misery and plenty, in hope and despair, next to a child’s cradle, and next to a men’s grave, in life and death… was the dog, the only noble being capable of liking his owner’s wound before his, happily offering his own life, the only noble being capable of kissing his owner’s hand both when he pets or punishes him.

Ladies and gentleman, I see in all this, something more than the simple realization of an instinct, I see the birth, in it’s psychogenesis of a higher sentiment. I see, in a first gesture, a bit of charity and a lot of abnegation, secondly, lots of gratitude, and in third place, I see the sublime act of forgiveness.

This magnificent spirit of adaptation, which is proper of canine species, both on the psychological and physical plan, is what allows the development of such a great number of breeds. Some were created through natural selection, others, selected by man to acquire practical results or with esthetic reasons, or to fight against loneliness. Every breed, with no exception, has something in common: the loyalty to man, the worst tyrant that nature conceived”.

Written by António Nores Martínez (1946)