Much of the charm of dogs is their unfailing ability to show up their owners at every opportunity.

There can't be many book festival events where the main heckler is canine and the chief distraction is the cute bundle of fur strolling nonchalantly between the legs of the audience.

Glasgow's book festival Aye Write enjoyed a busy opening weekend with more than 5,000 people attending events featuring well-known faces from Scotland and beyond.

For one entertaining hour yesterday, the main hall of the Mitchell Library was given over to a celebration of all things dog, as part of an event entitled My Dog, My Friend.

Jacki Gordon, who recently compiled a book of the same name, chaired the event alongside her faithful hound Looka.

As Jacki explained her inspiration for the book which is themed on how dog ownership enhances mental wellbeing and for which author royalties went to The Samaritans, Looka stood centre-stage grinning at the audience expectantly, thinking that surely one of these humans was going to offer a walk.

Onstage journalist Melanie Reid, thriller writer Helen FitzGerald, William McIlvanney and comedian Fred MacAulay spoke fondly of canine companions past and present.

Melanie, owner of Pip, confessed that she had deliberately opted for a staffie to offend the pretentious sensibilities of her husband who had been keen on getting a posh breed.

She acknowledged that the choice had had some drawbacks including the fact that on seeing Pip bounding around the garden, delivery man refuse to come to the front door and calls from the bottom of the drive.

Midway through Melanie's recollections, Looka lost patience, clearly realising that walkies are not in fact imminent, and started to bark. The emergency chicken treats were broken out and calm swiftly restored.

William McIvanney reminisced about a family pet called Jackie, who followed his father home one night and never left. "You didn't decide Jackie was your dog, Jackie decided you were his human."

Jackie was an animal of supreme intelligence, he explained, "Wittgenstein with a tail", so much so that he travelled solo on the local buses.

A neighbour apparently overheard a passenger complain about the unaccompanied dog. "Aye," the conductress said. "That dog always gets this bus. Never been known to pay a fare yet, either."

MacAuley, the proud owner of a pack a black labs, recalled the night the family got home 1 hour and 45 minutes after the dogs' allocated dinner time to discover the bold hounds had scaled the larder cupboard - presumably by forming some kind of dog pyramid - shredded the15 kg sack of dog food, and scoffed the lot.

Meanwhile, underneath the seats Helen Fitzgerald's Morkie - a Maltese Yorkie cross - called Izzy worked a charm offensive on the crowd while Fitzgerald spoke about growing up in Australia with a pack of dogs all named Pup, as per her mother's refusal to give animals names.

Amid the hilarity, there was a heartfelt message. Ms Gordon, who has worked extensively on suicide prevention, referred to research just out that showed that simply gazing at your dog is enough to release oxytocin, the "love" hormone, in both owner and dog. She also cited anecdotal evidence of individuals who had been helped to overcome alcoholism and agoraphobia since getting a dog.

At the end, Melanie Reid thanked Jacki for writing the book and raising awareness and funds for The Samaritans which was met with rapturous applause, causing McIlvanney to quip: "It's like a Pentacostal meeting in here".