Buff: A Collie and Other Dog-Stories is one of many popular books written by Albert Payson Terhune that have delighted dog lovers for decades. Terhune loved dogs, and he bred and raised collies at his Sunnybank Kennels. Terhune sometimes included difficult passages in his stories, and he did not always conclude with the typical "happy ending"--but his passion for dogs was always clearly evident in his novels. An excerpt from the Foreword to this book in which Terhune describes the nature of a dog:
"Service that asks no price; forgiveness free
For injury or for injustice hard.
Stanch friendship, wanting neither thanks nor fee
Save privilege to worship and to guard:--That is their creed."