The images come from wedding photographers around the world, with authors Katie Preston Toepfer and Sam Stall providing the sweet backstories. Here are six of our favorites dogs from the photobook.

1. Banff

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Photo by DAVINA + DANIEL, from the book "Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Mutrimony," published by Quirk Books.

Banff waited patiently for his turn to kiss the bride, taking full advantage once he had it. After all, the Siberian Husky carefully carried the rings on his harness and did not allow local wildlife to distract him during the ceremony, which took place outdoors in Toronto. He earned the face time captured here!

Erika Hasler-Gentile and Mark Gentile shared their decision to cast Banff in the role of ring bearer. In the book, Erika says, "Seeing that we had no little cousins, nieces, or nephews to include in our wedding, he was the obvious choice. Although, to be fair, even if we had little cousins, nieces, or nephews, he would still have been the obvious choice."

2. Oscar

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Photo by Wendy Hickock Photography, from the book "Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Mutrimony," published by Quirk Books.

James and Jennifer Montrose regret not giving their Jack Russell Terrier ring bearer duties in their Maryland wedding. Their three-year-old nephew chickened out at the last second. Oscar instead went as a guest, sitting calmly as he watched Jennifer head to the altar. 

"He was a welcome distraction," Jennifer says in the book. "One of my husband's family members commented on how my face lit up when I saw Oscar. He helped me walk down the aisle." What a good boy.

3. Sadie

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Photo by Aves Photography, from the book "Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Mutrimony," published by Quirk Books.

For their wedding photos, Brice and Jacqui Russell decided to visit points of interest around Fort Worth on a Vespa. They did not plan for their Weimaraner, Sadie, to take part, but she found her way into many of the images.

Brice says in the book, "Jacqui's father brought the Vespa, and her along with it. We decided, spur of the moment, to try a couple of shots with the dog. We wound up taking tons of pictures. ... She hammed it up real nice." Perhaps Sadie was hoping to tag along on the honeymoon.

4. Brutus

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Photo by A&A Photography, from the book "Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Mutrimony," published by Quirk Books.

Brutus and Bulldog sibling Bella were in attendance when their humans, Ryan and Lindsay Christiansen, tied the knot in an outdoor ceremony in Colorado. This bride and groom also risked having their vows interrupted by nearby wildlife.

"Fortunately for us, during our ceremony they didn't notice the deer grazing right behind the spot where we were married," Ryan says in the book. "If they'd seen them, they would have been gone." And mess up their fancy clothes? We think not.

5. Princess

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Photo by Adagion Studio, from the book "Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Mutrimony," published by Quirk Books.

What guest dares wear white to a wedding? A little Bichon Frise named Princess, that's who. The dog of bride Danielle Mante's father and stepmother, she did not have an official role in the South Florida wedding, but she made up for the lack of spotlight by appearing in as many photos as she could, such as this one of Danielle and groom Paul.

Danielle says in the book, "She greeted everyone as they entered the house, left everyone alone during dinner, then worked the crowd after the meal." That sounds like behavior befitting a royal.

6. Toby

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Photo by Brook Mayo Photographers, from the book "Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Mutrimony," published by Quirk Books.

Travis and Jennifer Ward also did not include their dog in the Virginia Beach exchange of vows, for fear that the Chihuahua would bark the entire time. Toby made up for the slight by becoming fast friends with the wedding photographer.

"He helped corral the kids, because they wanted to be around him," Travis says in the book. "Though it was hard to get them to stop looking at him and look at the camera." Can you blame them?

Let's hear from you, readers. Were your dogs at your wedding? Please share your memories and photos in the comments. If you're still in the planning stages, we want to hear about that, too! You can even pick up a few tips in "7 Tips for a Dog-Friendly Wedding."

You also can enter to win one of 10 copies of Weddings Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Muttrimony by following the directions below!

HOW TO WIN

1. Create a Disqus account, if you haven't already, and include a valid email. It takes just a minute and allows you to better participate in Dogster's community of people who are passionate about dogs. If you already have a Disqus account, check it to ensure the account includes a valid email.
2. Comment below using your Disqus account, telling us how your dogs took part in your wedding or why they didn't. Or, tell us your future plans! Our favorite comments win. Note: You must be a U.S. resident to win.
3. Check your email for a “You've Won!” message from us after noon PST on Wednesday, May 1. We'll give the winners two days to respond before moving on to our next favorite comment.

If you don't score the book, not to worry: You still have plenty of opportunities to win other great prizes. You also can find out where to buy the book on the Quirk Books website. 

It turns out that a cultural history of rabies must also be a cultural history of dogs. Rabies, dogs, and people have always gone together. The book fascinatingly charts the impact the disease has had on the relationship between dogs and people for thousands of years. 

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Dogs have long been humanity's best friends, but rabies historically impacted that friendship. Before the advent of canine rabies vaccines, the overwhelming majority of human rabies cases were the result of dog bites. In places where rabies is still a significant threat, dogs remain the main source of human infection. Long before the cause of rabies was clear, people understood that a family pet could transform from a docile companion to a carrier of a horrible death.

The book tracks the history of rabies and dogs from some of the earliest recorded times. The authors take some time to describe the Greek word lyssa -- a very special, overwhelming, and all-consuming mindless rage -- as it is used by Homer in The Iliad, which puts the fact that rabies is in a genus of viruses known as lyssaviruses in context.

Suffice it to say that Homer's contemporaries did not hold dogs in the same esteem we modern Westerners do. The book reveals that the same could be said throughout the Middle Ages. Even through the Renaissance and into the 19th century, rabies was a chronic threat to the lives and bonds between humans and dogs. The book provides plenty of cultural examples of the terror and damage caused by rabies, and links rabies to cultural curiosities such as werewolves, vampires, and zombies.

The book addresses Louis Pasteur's remarkable efforts to devise a rabies vaccine, which succeeded in creating vaccines for both humans and dogs. Those efforts also sparked the antivaccine movement, which is alive and well to this day (and whose members would be well served by watching the ending of Old Yeller).

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Barking dog outdoors by Shutterstock

The rabies vaccine fundamentally changed the relationship between dogs and people in developed countries. We now share our beds and lives with our dogs without placing ourselves at any real risk of contracting the disease. Human exposure to rabies is astonishingly rare and comes most often via the teeth of bats.

In countries where rabies vaccination is not common, dogs are necessarily kept at arms' length or further. Feral dogs roam the streets. Even owned dogs are generally marginalized and viewed as potential risks. Rabies outbreaks are often treated with mass canine slaughter.

Wasik and Murphy spent two years researching the book, and their coverage of the subject is comprehensive but never boring. I took some interest in their sections on rabies in modern times. For instance, physicians have recently had some success treating human rabies with medical comas. The authors include not only descriptions of the success rates and controversies in the treatment, but also a description of the tactics employed (for those who are curious, the main treatment is a ketamine-midazolam infusion).

They also devote a fascinating chapter to a recent rabies outbreak in Bali, where they describe the efforts of a determined crew who promoted vaccination over extermination -- and where the authors actually see a rabid dog firsthand (something that I, to my knowledge, have never seen).

Rabid is a book that will fascinate any person who loves dogs, whether they are curious about rabies or not. I devoured it in less than a day, and I strongly recommend it. 

I've featured many of these dogs in my book Canine Angels, which I wrote with Carole Villeneuve.

For several years, assistance dogs have been trained to help diabetics to better control their condition, such as at Dogs for Diabetics, a nonprofit organization in California. Thanks to a rigorous training and a well-developed olfactory acuity, these dogs can detect low or high blood glucose levels in their owners’ blood. When that happens, the dog takes something called a bringsel (a small leather strap hooked to the collar) into his or her mouth and makes physical contact with the human. This way, diabetics know that they must check their blood-sugar level. If they ignore or do not respond to this request, their dogs become more intense in the method of contact. Some diabetics wearing an insulin pump with an alarm say that their assistance dogs alert them well before the pump’s alarm starts beeping.

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Kristin, a diabetic, says her service dog, Rochelle, can detect low or high blood glucose levels.

There are also dogs for people with epilepsy. The Lions Foundation Dog Guides offers this type of dog. When an individual has a seizure in a public place, the service dog begins to bark in order to attract people’s attention. When a seizure occurs at home, the dog is trained to fetch a cordless phone and bring it to the owner. In other cases, the dog has to press a button on a specially designed device.

One-third of these assistance dogs can anticipate a seizure well before it occurs, yet no scientific study has explained why. Most of these dogs show signs of agitation and repeatedly circle their owners as if they want to protect them. This gives people with epilepsy time to get to a safe place to avoid injuries during a seizure. 

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Judy is epileptic and says her service dog, Veto, has ended her injuries during seizures.

More surprisingly, dogs can be trained to detect cancer in humans. The Pine Street Foundation, located in San Anselmo, CA, published a study based on breath samples contained in tubes, the goal of which was to detect breast and lung cancer. The dogs had undergone only a few weeks of training and worked over a four-month period, investigating 12,295 trials. Each trial was documented on video. The study targeted 55 people afflicted with lung cancer, 31 suffering from breast cancer, and 83 in good health. The five professionally trained dogs, with more than 90 percent accuracy, distinguished people who had cancer from those who did not.

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Chanda says she relies on her service dog, Oliver, to calm her during panic attacks.

There are also psychiatric service dogs, when medication proves ineffective in alleviating the effects of mental health problems. A psychiatric service dog can perform several tasks. For example, for an individual suffering from major depression, the dog can wake him up in the morning, bring his medication, and find lost objects. For someone with a bipolar disorder, the dog can give a warning at the beginning of a manic episode by performing an alerting behavior, much like with epileptics.

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Rowan, who is autistic, says thanks to his dog Whitby he is highly motivated to learn new things.

Autistic children also benefit from service dogs, with parents noticing improvements in their children's language skills, motor skills, and behavior. Some parents even describe service dogs as real therapists.

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Canine Angels features chapters on various types of dogs, such as assistance dogs for people with post-traumatic stress syndrome or reduced mobility, and guide dogs for deaf people and blind people. It contains more than 20 testimonials, with people relating how their assistance dog has improved their quality of life. The stories differ greatly in terms of individual disorders and people’s circumstances, but they share the joy of living rediscovered, thanks in large part to the constant support and presence of canine angels.

However, when those pet emergencies do occur, Nicholas is right there with you, offering a free emergency and disaster guide for pets. Nicholas' willingness to provide his knowledge for free speaks to his deep love of animals and keeping pets and their humans together for as long as possible.

Nicholas has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise money so he can publish his preventive care in two books -- one for dogs and another one for cats. He seeks $15,000 to realize his dream. The books are already written, and the money will ease the burden of production costs, allowing more books to reach the hands of responsible and caring pet parents like you.

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An example of what the illustrations for the book will look like. Illustration by Chuck Gonzales

But there's some urgency here: There's only a little more than a day left for Nicholas to reach his goal. He is just short of $13,000, and if the total $15,000 is not met, Nicholas will receive none of the money. It's all or nothing, and we've got the power to make this much-needed resource a reality.

So let's do what we can to help Jason help us -- it's ultimately a contribution to the health and happiness of our much beloved and sometimes quite mischievous companion animals, and isn't that priceless? Nicolas is offering rewards for those who can contribute at varying levels. Among them is a heartfelt rendition of your pet, and even a chance for your dog or cat to make it into the pages of his books.

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Among the rewards Nicholas offers contributors is this high tech pet tag. If a dog is lost, the tag can be scanned with a smartphone and links to the owners' contact information at PetHub.com.

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This t-shirt is another thing offered to contributors.

To find out more about Nicholas' Indiegogo campaign, click here. If you can't afford to contribute, pass this post on to your fellow animal lovers -- it all helps!

So let’s take a moment to remember the dog training books that have mattered most, even when they’ve been wrongheaded and frightfully barbaric. Let’s find out how we got to the relatively enlightened place we call the present day.

Training Dogs: A Manual by Konrad Most

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Colonel Most’s groundbreaking book has had at least two lives. It was first published in the original German in 1910, when it became a best seller. It proved highly influential internationally when German dog trainers began exiling around the world during the 1930s. In 1954, when Training Dogs was translated into English, it helped spur the first wave of dog training books that flooded the market in the 1950s and ‘60s.

The Complete Book of Dog Obedience by Blanche Saunders

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Equally influential on the mid-century dog training boom was Blanche Saunders, who already had published the best-seller Training You to Train Your Dog in 1946. By the 1950s, Saunders had established herself as the most prominent face associated with dog training, thanks to a run of successful books and television appearances.

The Koehler Method series by William R. Koehler

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By the 1960s, dog training books were often written from one of two opposing points of view. The first, placing emphasis on punishment as a way to guide canine behavior,was despicable, and appears rightfully archaic today. The school of thought was popularized by William Koehler’s series of books, which are valuable today only as artifacts from a kind of dark ages in publishing for dog lovers.

Obedience Class Instruction for Dogs by Winifred G. Strickland

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In the other camp are the positive-reinforcement trainers. Strickland’s 1960 volume was one of the most celebrated of this school and is a forebear of the books from the ‘80s that would emphasize human-canine symbiosis over domination.

Stop! Sit! And Think! by Charles P. Eisenmann

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The author of this self-published curio is more famous for owning and training London, the German Shepherd who starred in the 1960s Canadian television series, The Littlest Hobo. Eisenmann’s book was unusual in its day for being written in the digressive and intimate tone of a memoir. Today, it remains one of the rarest dog training books, fetching up to $400 on Amazon. 

Playtraining Your Dog by Patricia Gail Burnham

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From the sublime to the uproariously silly -- though, in its own way, brilliant -- Playtraining Your Dog was a faddish ‘80s best-seller. The book is notable today for laying the groundwork for the increasing use of a canine’s prey drive -- the inclination to chase moving objects -- as part of a trainer’s motivational technique.

Don’t Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor

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The classic era of dog training books reached its apex and conclusion with Karen Pryor's best-selling 1985 guide. The key to this book’s lasting influence is the importance it places on effective communication between owner and dog. In a move that seemed to sweep away Kohler’s influence once and for all (that is, until “domination” methods rose to prominence in the past decade), Pryor implores us to establish a truly symbiotic relationship with our beloved pets.

Did we miss one of your dog-eared favorites? Let us know in the comments!