drink to the dogs

Gift of Ernest Brummer, 1957 www.metmuseum.org

Perhaps this was a hunting cup: one hand on your weapons, one on your wine (so, one handled), and round the rim of the cup homage to the very dogs that were helping you chase down the prey.  This is a Greek skyphos, a deep cup, dating from the late 8th to the early 7th century B.C.   See where the handle's been placed?  Imagine holding that.  It probably helped stabilize the beverage.  Here's this item's original page at the Met if you would like to learn a little more.

"flattery"

From Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864):

FLATTERY
"Men call you dog; now tell me why,"
A little girl said; in reply
Diogenes said, smiling at her,
"My child! how wickedly men flatter!"

After this tart little left-handed compliment on dogs, you will not be surprised to learn that the Encyclopedia Britannica's entry on Landor practically leads with "Educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Oxford, Landor spent a lifetime quarreling with his father, neighbours, wife, and any authorities at hand who offended him."
--Poem from Leonard, R. M. Poems On Animals. London: Humphrey Milford, 1915, p. 87.