Man's best friend (catchphrase)

"Man's best friend" is a catchphrase for tame dogs, generally referring to the category as a whole. The popularization of the term is said to have occurred in a courtroom speech by George Graham Vest in Warrensburg, Missouri in 1870 who said, "The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog." The phrase was later shortened to "man’s best friend". Vest's speech came at the closing of a trial in which he was representing a farmer who was suing for damages after his dog Old Drum was shot^[vague] by a neighbor.^[1][2][3]

Works so titled

• A 1935 film about a boy and his dog
• A 1951 animated short film starring Goofy
• A 1993 horror film starring Ally Sheedy and Lance Henriksen
• A 1980 musical album by Livingston Taylor
• A 1998 animated short film directed by Ben Gluck
• A 1999 TV series by Television Broadcasts Limited in Hong Kong
• An animation episode made for the 2003 series Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"
• A 2006 Japanese comic (yaoi manga) by Kazusa Takashima

References

1. ^ Coren, Stanley (2009-10-21). ""A Man's Best Friend is his Dog": The Senator, the Dog, and the Trial". Psychology Today. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/200910/man-s-best-friend-is-his-dog-the-senator-the-dog-and-the-trial. Retrieved 2010-09-27. 
2. ^ The Trial of Old Drum – New York Times Television Review – June 9, 2000
3. ^ Martin, David (March 8, 2010). "I-70 in Missouri: Not just billboards and trucker-oriented porn". The Pitch. http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/03/i-70_in_missouri_not_just_billboards_and_trucker-oriented_porn.php.