Dog Names that Start with Ar

In our opinion, literature seems to have the best track record for depicting both human and non-human feelings.  We have read many volumes of well-written and famous literary works which accurately describe the sentiments of the human characters, something of which we're all familiar.  But, not only do these works reveal what humans feel, but they also delve deeply into the emotions of the non-human characters, and most frequently those characters are of the canine species.  The relationship which exists between a man (or a woman) and his dog is something that is so simple that we overlook it.  The canine species can show and feel the closest thing to unconditional love that we can know. Where else are you greeted by wildly wagging tails, the boisterous barking of greeting and the jovial gyrations that warm you from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet?  This relationship between a man and his dog is the focus of our pop culture spotlight for today - Argos.  

Argos is one of the characters in Homer's Odyssey.  He is the beloved canine companion of Odysseus in this ancient Greek epic poem written by Homer as a sequel to the Iliad, the other epic poem attributed to Homer.  As the story goes, Troy is under siege, and Odysseus, like many other young Greek men, left his home in Ithaca and responded to the call to arms to fight.  He did so for about ten years in Troy, and he spent another almost ten years trying to get back home to Ithaca, through war-torn lands, ducking and dodging bands of warriors.  Finally arriving in his hometown of Ithaca, he finds that some reckless men have determined that Odysseus is dead and will not return.  They have moved into Odysseus home in the hope of wooing Odysseus wife, Penelope.  In an attempt to take back what is his, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar, alerting his only son to his identity, to gain entry into the house.  He fooled everyone except Argos, who had patiently awaited the return of his beloved master.  Lying neglected on a heap of cow manure, infested with fleas, old and weak Argos' ears perked up and tail began to wag when hearing his master's voice, too weak to get up and come to Odysseus' side. As the poem relates, Odysseus can't go to his beloved Argos without "blowing his cover" so he tearfully passes right by the dog, entering the hall, while Argos dies.