On this selected shorts, we go to the dogs.

From a live event hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Anna Gastire, we bring you three very different works that explore our relationship with man's best friend.

So sit, stay, and's 86.9 million homes have a dog or dogs, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. And those homes range from

people magazine-worthy mansions to comfortable suburban ranches to tiny studios in big cities.

And there's a reason for this. Whatever the size of the house, many people have room in their

hearts for a dog. And why is that? The origin story of the domestic dog always focuses on the transformation from wolves to companion animals,

from lean and hungry predators to a dazzling array of canines for all aspects of life.

It doesn't focus so much on us, but because of dogs, we too were transformed.

Sure, some dogs were purpose bred to track game or deter thugs or sit on our laps, but many dogs,

both purebreds and mixed breeds, are just members of our family. And their function? To be read to,

to sleep with, to take on a run. And because of them,

we are kinder, less anxious, less driven, a medically proven fact, by the way. I think I've

mentioned before my childhood dog Max, a doxund. He made my family laugh, and now he is an

indelible part of my memories. And he loved to play a little

toy piano, the kind that Schroeder played in Peanuts cartoons. We would put it in the den and

he would plant his paws on the keys and make crashing chords, clearly excited by the sounds

he was producing. Max lived a long time and was a very active member of our family.

When I see photos of him, I feel like myself now and myself then at the same time.

Because I still feel love and attachment for this dog who has been gone for my God almost half a century.

And that's a little different from feeling love for a person you lost.

Maybe in some ways it's simpler.

Mostly, I remember play.

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