Ever wonder why dogs are considered “man’s best friend?”  The infamous phrase (or variation of the phrase) takes us back to a trial that took place in Missouri back in September 1870.

According to history, the case involved the killing death of a black and tan hound named Old Drum, the favorite dog of Charles Burden.  Burden’s neighbor, Leonidas Hornsby had lost a considerable amount of sheep and he swore that any dog that he saw on his property he would shoot.  Hornsby noticed Old Drum wandering around on his property, and had a hired hand shoot him.  Burden sued Hornsby for damages.

In the case that eventually was appealed to the Supreme Court, George Vest made the closing remarks on behalf of Burden.  Vest became deeply involved in the case and even stated during the trial that he would “win the case or apologize to every dog in Missouri.”

In Vest’s closing statement he uttered the phrase, “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.”)

Burden won the case and was awarded $50. But his true reward came posthumously many years later when a statue of Old Drum was erected in 1958 at the corner of the Johnson County Courthouse lawn, in Warrensburg, Missouri.  The front of the plaque features the words from Vest’s closing argument that has summed up our relationship to dogs since that time, “A Man’s Best Friend is His Dog.”