What we humans were getting in return is less obvious. And wolves were smart enough to realize there was benefit there for them in this symbiotic relationship: that they would be provided for, get food and shelter, get to sleep on the bed. There’s an exchange that they made with us. “All domesticated animals were domesticated for a reason,” DeVincent says, “dogs and horses especially. Of course, the story of dogs and humans began long before that, at least 35,000 years ago, maybe more. It’s amazing how, even then, all the qualities we hold so dear in dogs today were already evident in that first noble dog: faithfulness, friendship, heart. Gifford mentions the origin of their dog’s name because he and DeVincent and Love, Dog’s founder, Mark Drucker, and I are all talking about the history of canines and humans, and Homer composed The Odyssey 2,700 years ago. Ancient, flea-bitten, and neglected, Argos sees his old, never-forgotten friend and wags his tail. In the epic tale, Odysseus has been gone from home some 20 years - has fought in Troy, been blown by Poseidon to the edge of the seas, resisted the call of the Sirens - and when he finally returns, no one even recognizes him but for his faithful dog. They named him after Odysseus’s dog, Argos - the first great dog of literature. As Gifford remembers, “From 2009 on, there was only one person I noticed.” The following year, they moved in together, and in January of 2012, they got their first dog - a golden retriever who would become the center of their lives. DeVincent, a veterinarian, was in town on a fellowship with the State Department in the Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, focusing on polar bear policy. Gifford had been working on the Obama campaign and was shifting over to become the finance director for the Democratic National Committee. Stephen DeVincent met in February of 2009 in Washington, D.C. Their golden retrievers remind the couple about love, trust, and living life with an open heart. Dogs are central to the lives of diplomat Rufus Gifford ’92 and his veterinarian husband.
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