Here's a CNN article on 10 dogs that changed the world. My favorite is an account of how Pope Clement VII was bitten by Cardinal Wolsey's dog and subsequently refused to grant the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
By the way, the article overplays the roles of the dogs rather egregiously ~ for instance, the refusal to annul Henry's marriage was an extraordinarily sensitive political decision involving threats from Catherine's brother, the Holy Roman Empire ~ it's kinda funny reading about these forgotten canines from other ages.
