One week after the death of his beloved one-eyed chihuahua Pepsi in 2004, Arthur C. Clarke (author of Childhood's End and 2001: A Space Oddysey) said rather mystically, "I'm going to get another one today. The same one." He had a deep desire to think of any "replacement" as a clone, and thus not a different dog at all.

Though never able to forget Pepsi, Sir Arthur soon bonded with the even smaller Dainty. By then confined more than not to a wheelchair (due to post-polio syndrome), Dainty, shown above. Dainty rode about with Sir Arthur on the wheelchair, just inside his shirt. "Dainty," he observed, "comes from a planet where the aliens have large ears."

They were forever together, but alas, though Sir Arthur passed away in 2008 at the age of 90, he'd actually outlived Dainty who was shortlived due to a heart defect. Sir Arthur said, "No more dogs for me -- I have wept at too many little graves. But I demand hound-hugging rights for all the canine companions of my friends," especially if they had ridgebacks or chihuahuas.