Every now and then, our 'girls', three miniature dachshunds, seem to be staring at something or someone we can't see. Sometimes they even bark at 'it'. The idea that they are aware of something that I am not doesn't surprise me. Their sense of smell is very different and their hearing is very likely much better than mine - why not their eyesight too?
The ghosts that surround me are very different. Unlike the ones that cause the girls to react, these ghosts are neither seen nor heard. They haunt me nevertheless. Decades of taking everything to heart and wanting things to be good for everyone else (and failing miserably it seems for the most part) have left me with regrets*. Slowly, however, with much help from friends and my dear K, I am letting them pass by when they visit. Frustrated with my newfound indifference, they come to visit less frequently.
The girls are doing their best, I think, to teach me dog nature. Dogs never live in the past and they rarely seem to anticipate beyond the next meal. The girls and all of their kin live in the moment. They give other creatures (well, maybe not squirrels) the benefit of the doubt, until they are shown to be best avoided, or eaten.
There is good evidence that the domestication of wolves and the domestication of humans happened in parallel. Some even suggest friendly wolves domesticated us! At the very least, they are more than our best friends; they have the capacity to change us for the better.
*Regrets are silly things, and if you don't have them, think nothing more of it. You are much better off.
Hello Deanna [Halle?];
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that what you are experiencing is that profound sense of union that all [I hope] loving dog owners feel when they look into the eyes of their dogs. I do not discount cat or any other pet owners here. Its just that our dogs, one at a time, have in their individual ways led me to 'places' which make me tremble with love and impending wonder. Their heads rise, almost in expectation; their eyes prick up in anticipation; their eyebrows alternately flick up and down; they look into your eyes; they lower their heads onto their paws and give a great sigh. Everything is fine. No cause for alarm.
Yes, there is much that we can learn from dogs when they haven't been messed about by dysfunctional humans.
Hi Tom,
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that true dog nature has been ignored by dysfunctional humans. The way popular entertainment anthropomorphises all animals hasn't helped, of course.
When you look with love, and see them as they truly are, they have something powerful to offer in those behaviours you have described so well.
Halle is a nom de plume as you have discovered. Our little secret?
Deanna
Yes, our little secret! :)
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