Mans Best Friend

📜 Where the Phrase Came From

The earliest famous use of “man’s best friend” comes from 1870, in a courtroom in Warrensburg, Missouri.

A farmer named Charles Burden sued his neighbor for killing his dog, Old Drum. Burden’s lawyer, George Graham Vest, delivered a closing argument that became legendary — now known as the “Eulogy of the Dog.”

In that speech, he said:

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world… is his dog.”

He described the dog as:

• loyal when others abandon you

• faithful whether you’re rich or poor

• the last friend standing when everything else fails

This courtroom speech spread nationwide, and from it the phrase “a dog is man’s best friend” entered popular culture.

🐶 Earlier Roots

Even before 1870, people compared dogs to loyal companions:

• Ancient Greeks praised dogs for loyalty

• Frederick the Great (1700s) supposedly said, “Dog is man’s best friend”

But the reason the phrase became famous and permanent was because of that Missouri courtroom speech.

🐾 Why It Stuck

Dogs:

• don’t judge you

• stay loyal through everything

• read human emotion better than almost any other species

• bond socially like a pack member

Humans recognized dogs as their closest animal partner long before science proved it.