Old Age Day by Day May 17, 2010

In my childhood, we always had a dog. We first had a big spaniel, then after that cocker spaniels named Scamper I ,II and so on until we left home. I didn't think anything of it, though it was my father who really adored dogs. His parents had dogs up until they died. On my mother's farm there was always a dog, but it wasn't much of a pet, because there was no space inside and too much work to do outside to get sentimental. But Mom never questioned the encessity of a dog. But it could not come in her house. My father's parents always had the dog in the house, but he abided by the rule. He built dog houses and if there was snow or exceptional cold the dog got to sleep in the garage. He even built a doghouse for one of my dogs, which was carted wherever we moved.

When my brother and I were kids, the dog went with us wherever we roamed, and part of our job was to check for ticks, brush out the pine needles and debris from his coat and feed and water him. We had cats, but nobody paid much attention to them. Cats were for the mice and never went inside. They slept on the tires of the car in the garage if it was cold.

We all would have thought the world had gone mad if we'd seen a dog store or a fancy dog toy or dog outfit. Now, dog boutiques litter the shopping areas and huge amounts of money are spent on inessentials. We've changed our relationships with dogs. We want dogs to be more than they are perhaps, and then we get disillusioned when they can't live up to our human needs and expectations. A dog is a hair's breath away from wild. When we lived in the country I could see it. Dog packs chasing and killing sheep, dogs breaking into houses and stealing food. Dogs are fantastic, and I want to be one if I have a next life, but they aren't humans. They don't need baby talk, they need a leader, and without a totalitarian structure, they worry and fret.

Now people use them as status symbols, as body guards, as a substitute for human love and connection. It's hard on the dogs. They want us to know what we're going, and they'll happily follow along. When we don't understand them, we harm them and they get put down or abandoned. I think maybe people should develop their people skills, and that would be a great kindness to our furry friends.