101 Quotes that Perfectly Describe the Love of a Dog

If you’re looking for the perfect way to tell your dog “I love you,” these 101 quotes about dog love are here to help.

The bond between owner and pet is like no other—they’re our companions, always along for the ride no matter what ups and downs life brings. They show us joy and make us laugh, and even listen to us like they know exactly what we’re saying.

As the expression goes, a dog is a man’s best friend—and it’s easy to see why. They greet us at the door every day, love us unconditionally, and even help humans live longer, happier lives. It’s time to show love for that furry family member in return, so whether you’re looking for quotes about dog love to honor that adorable pup of yours with a personalized photo, or posting a snap of you and your fur baby to Instagram with the perfect caption, we’ve got you covered.

If you’re looking for the perfect way to tell your dog “I love you,” these 101 quotes about dog love are here to help.

Thought-Provoking Dog Quotes
“Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made.” – Roger A. Caras, author of A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us
“Everyone thinks they have the best dog. And none of them are wrong.” – W.R. Purche
“Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.” – Gene Hill, author of A Hunter’s Fireside Book and Hill Country
“If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.” – Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist
“Intelligent dogs rarely want to please people whom they do not respect.” – W.R. Koehler, author of The Koehler Method of Dog Training

“A dog is a bond between strangers.” – John Steinbeck, author of Travels with Charley: In Search of America
“Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” – Agnes Turnbull, author of The Wedding Bargain
“The greatest fear dogs know is the fear that you will not come back when you go out the door without them.” – Stanley Coren, psychologist and author of The Intelligence of Dogs
“Dogs are how people would be if the important stuff is all that mattered to us.” – Ashly Lorenzana, author
“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment to animals.” – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher
“A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad.” – Robert Wagner, actor from The Longest Day
“Dogs die. But dogs live, too. Right up until they die, they live. They live brave, beautiful lives. They protect their families.

And love us, and make our lives a little brighter, and they don’t waste time being afraid of tomorrow.” – Dan Gemeinhart, author of The Honest Truth
“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.” – George Graham Vest, U.S. Senator from Missouri
“Everything I know I learned from dogs.” – Nora Roberts, author of The Search
“Animals have come to mean so much in our lives. We live in a fragmented and disconnected culture. Politics are ugly, religion is struggling, technology is stressful, and the economy is unfortunate. What’s one thing that we have in our lives that we can depend on? A dog or a cat loving us unconditionally, every day, very faithfully.” – Jon Katz, American journalist, author, and photographer
“When the dog looks at you, the dog is not thinking what kind of a person you are. The dog is not judging you.” – Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
“The dog is the perfect portrait subject. He doesn’t pose. He isn’t aware of the camera.” – Patrick Demarchelier, French photographer
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain, author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
“The love of a dog is a pure thing. He gives you a trust which is total. You must not betray it.” – Michel Houellebecq, French author
“If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it; to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and, prospectively, to equally profound sadness.” – Marjorie Garber, author of Shakespeare After All

“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.” – Orhan Pamuk, author of My Name is Red
“You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him.” – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog’s Journey
“Everybody should have a shelter dog. It’s good for the soul.” – Paul Shaffer, Canadian musician, composer, actor, author, and comedian
“The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend.” – Lord Byron, poet of Epitaph to a Dog
“Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.” – Dean Koontz, author of False Memory
“Dogs’ lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you’re going to lose a dog, and there’s going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can’t support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There’s such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price.” – Dean Koontz, author of False Memory
“All dogs go to heaven because dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind.” – Melba Moore as Whippet Angel in All Dogs Go To Heaven
“Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.” – Emily Dickinson, poet of Hope is the Thing with Feathers
“Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.” – Sigmund Freud, psychoanalyst
“There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog—waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there.” – Lee Iacocca, former president and CEO of Chrysler
“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.” – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog.” – Jack London, author of The Call of the Wild
“Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them.” – Dodie Smith, author of The Hundred and One Dalmatians
“Dogs don’t rationalize. They don’t hold anything against a person. They don’t see the outside of a human but the inside of a human.” – Cesar Millan, dog trainer
I Love My Dog Quotes
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” – Josh Billings, humorist and lecturer
“It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.” – John Grogan, author of Marley & Me
“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.” – M.K. Clinton, author of The Returns
“No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you feel rich.” – Louis Sabin, author of Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider
“My little dog—a heartbeat at my feet.” – Edith Wharton, Pulitzer Prize winning author
“…people have been trying to understand dogs ever since the beginning of time. One never knows what they’ll do. You can read every day where a dog saved the life of a drowning child, or lay down his life for his master. Some people call this loyalty. I don’t. I may be wrong, but I call it love—the deepest kind of love.” – Wilson Rawls, author of Where the Red Fern Grows
“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them and filling an emptiness we didn’t ever know we had.” – Thom Jones, author of The Pugilist at Rest
“The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.” – Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon
“My idea of absolute happiness is to be in bed on a rainy day with my blankie, my cat, and my dog.” – Anne Lamott, American novelist and political activist
“I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source.” – Doris Day, actress
“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it watching for us to come home each day.” – John Grogan, author of Marley & Me
“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.” – Ben Williams, English philosopher
“Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.” – Dean Koontz, author of Whispers
“A dog is the only thing that can mend a crack in your broken heart.” – Judy Desmond, producer of Eyes of Prey
“The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is, in fact, the most precious and valuable possession of mankind.” – Theodorus Gaza, a Greek humanist and translator of Aristotle
“Before you get a dog, you can’t quite imagine what living with one might be like; afterward, you can’t imagine living any other way.” – Caroline Knapp, author of Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs
“No animal I know of can consistently be more of a friend and companion than a dog.” – Stanley Leinwall
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” – Charles Schulz, cartoonist of Peanuts
“I suppose there’s a time in practically every young boy’s life when he’s affected by that wonderful disease of puppy love. I don’t mean the kind a boy has for the pretty little girl that lives down the road. I mean the real kind, the kind that has four small feet and a wiggly tail, and sharp little teeth that can gnaw on a boy’s finger; the kind a boy can romp and play with, even eat and sleep with.” – Wilson Rawls, author of Where the Red Fern Grows
“No matter how you’re feeling, a little dog gonna love you.” – Waka Flocka Flame, New York-based rapper, a.k.a. Juaquin James Malphurs
“There’s a saying. If you want someone to love you forever, buy a dog, feed it, and keep it around.” – Dick Dale, American rock guitarist, a.k.a. Richard Anthony Monsour
“My main characters are the most sunny, happy, optimistic, loving creatures on the face of the Earth. I couldn’t be happier that’s where I start. I can put as many flawed people in the dog’s world as I like, but the dog doesn’t care. Dog doesn’t judge; dog doesn’t dislike. Dog loves. That’s not so bad.” – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, and A Dog’s Way Home
“Actually, my dog I think is the only person who consistently loves me all the time.” – H. G. Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize winning American author and journalist
“In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy … to wit—the wag of a dog’s tail.” – Josh Billings, humorist and lecturer
“When you adopt a dog, you have a lot of very good days and one very bad day.” – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, and A Dog’s Way Home
“You know, a dog can snap you out of any kind of bad mood that you’re in faster than you can think of.” – Jill Abramson, American author and journalist, and former executive editor of The New York Times
“My favorite type of pet has always been a dog. They’re loyal, kind, and offer endless affection. My friend Eric says, ‘The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.’ Funny thought.” – Brendon Urie, lead vocalist of Panic! at the Disco
“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.” – Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress
“When we adopt a dog or any pet, we know it is going to end with us having to say goodbye, but we still do it. And we do it for a very good reason: They bring so much joy and optimism and happiness. They attack every moment of every day with that attitude.” – W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, and A Dog’s Way Home
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras, author of A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us
“Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness?” – Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“When the Man waked up he said, ‘What is Wild Dog doing here?’ And the Woman said, ‘His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend because he will be our friend for always and always and always.’” – Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book
“There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog.” – Konrad Lorenz, zoologist
“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace.” – Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Funny Quotes About Dogs
“The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.” – Charles De Gaulle, President of the French Republic

“Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well.” – Bonnie Wilcox, author of Successful Dog Breeding
“No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as the dog does.” – Christopher Morley, American journalist, novelist, and poet
“A well-trained dog will make no attempt to share your lunch. He will just make you feel so guilty that you cannot enjoy it.” – Helen Thomson, writer and consultant with New Scientist Magazine and Best Science Journalist in the British Journalism Awards

“I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that dogs think humans are nuts.” – John Steinbeck, author of The Grapes of Wrath
“I’m a lot less cranky when it’s just me and my dog.” – Bob Peterson, American animator, screenwriter, director, and voice actor for Pixar
“When an 85-pound mammal licks your tears away and then tries to sit on your lap, it’s hard to feel sad.” – Kristan Higgins, author of In Your Dreams
“It’s tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won’t drink from my glass.” – Rodney Dangerfield, American stand-up comic, actor, producer, screenwriter, musician, and author
“Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is how dogs spend their lives.” – Sue Murphy, American comedian

“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.” – Robert Benchley, humorist and actor
“Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!” – Anne Tyler, author of The Accidental Tourist
“If you don’t own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life.” – Roger Caras, author of A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us
“I once decided not to date a guy because he wasn’t excited to meet my dog. I mean, this was like not wanting to meet my mother.” – Bonnie Schacter, founder of the Single Pet Owner’s Society Singles Group
“There’s just something about dogs that makes you feel good. You come home, they’re thrilled to see you. They’re good for the ego.” – Janet Schnellman
“My fashion philosophy is, if you’re not covered in dog hair, your life is empty.” – Elayne Boosler, American comedian

“Dogs have boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.” – Moby, American singer/songwriter and animal activist
“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For, after all, he was only human. He wasn’t a dog.” – Charles Schulz, cartoonist of Peanuts
“I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross, and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful, and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk.” – Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
“They [dogs] never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation.” – Jerome K. Jerome, humorist
“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” – Andy Rooney, American TV writer and contributor on 60 Minutes

“I just want to be in my sweats, walk my dog, watch TV, and eat pizza.” – America Ferrera, actress
“Did you know that there are over 300 words for love in canine?” – Gabriel Zevin, author of Margarretown
“The best way to get a puppy is to beg for a baby brother—and they’ll settle for a puppy every time.” – Winston Pendleton, author of Pursuit of Happiness
“Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot little puppies.” – Gene Hill, author of A Hunter’s Fireside Book and Hill Country
“People have been asking me if I was going to have kids, and I had puppies instead.” – Kate Jackson, actress and TV producer
“There are three faithful friends: an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.” – Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States

“Dogs never bite me. Just humans.” – Marilyn Monroe, actress from Too Good To Be True
“If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them.” – Phil Pastoret, author of Our Boarding House
“If you eliminate smoking and gambling, you will be amazed to find that almost all an Englishman’s pleasures can be, and mostly are, shared by his dog.” – George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright
“Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.” – Elizabeth Taylor, actress
“Dogs got personality. Personality goes a long way.” – Quentin Tarantino, director and screenwriter
“To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.” – Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World
“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.” – Christopher Hitchens, author of The Portable