Us....Them

I can't believe it's been three months since I did any blogging. Soon, I will have much to blog about, since I am going on another 4-week trip this fall (details to come). But for now, I have been thinking...

WHEN did DOGS get so darned POLITE?

This weekend finds me in charge of Derby, the mixed-breed pooch of my friends Jill and Barb. Jill and Barb are in Pennsylvania, planting trees on Jill's dad's Christmas tree farm and, hopefully, convincing as many Pennsylvanians as possible to vote for Obama (OK, I doubt that, but an Obama-supporter can dream, can't she?)

So, here I am at home with Derby for a few days. Naturally, since we live in the city, I need to take her for walks a couple times a day so that she can get some exercise and do waste-related things. I recall my childhood days, when we had a dog named Baron. Baron was (for the time) a typical dog, in so many endearing ways. When leashed for a walk, he pulled so hard on the leash that he was known to topple a hefty adult. If let loose in the house, he would gladly eat an entire beef roast off the kitchen counter (which he did, once). When set free in the front yard, he would run screaming for the hills, sometimes bringing back a treat for us (birds, bunnies, you name it). Baron caused the demise of a few neighborhood cats, got into a couple gnarly dogfights in his career, and loved to dig in the backyard. He was a typical DOG. (Incidentally, he was a great hunting dog, except that he ranged too far - that dog could smell a pheasant from a mile away).

So, I expected Derby to be, well, what I thought was a dog. Instead, I find myself with a canine "person" (and a polite one!) in the house. She won't try to wake me up in the morning, until I show some sign of life. She doesn't tug at her leash. She shows no sign of interest, while walking, in other dogs or any humans. Birds can fly right in front of her nose and she ignores them. What is the world coming to?? We have gotten so "civilized" that our dogs sit and listen while we talk to them, stop at the corner before crossing the street, and (in many cases, but lord knows not mine, never) sleep in our beds. Have we turned our dogs into four-legged humans?

Heck, I honestly know some people who speak MUCH more fondly of their dogs than their spouses. I find this sad and disturbing, but I decline to tell these people my feelings, because it arouses great ire within them (of course, the fact that people get angry and defensive if you suggest that they should at least love the husband as much as the mutt also saddens and disturbs me). For some people, spending time "in the doghouse" would probably be a step up!

Conversely, I think of my own situation. At least two days a week, I work from home. During those days, unless I make a conscious effort to get out of the house for a walk, I have no human contact whatsoever. I become oddly excited in anticipation of a trip to Trader Joe's, and I find myself listening intently to determine when the mailman is walking down the street.

ACK! We've switched places! I have become a dog!

Think about it; as we get more technologically astute and civilized, are we teaching the non-human species to also become more civilized, but taking on historical traits of those species? Are we blurring the lines between creatures, here? Dogs are polite, gorillas are speaking in sign language, and dolphins are locating underwater mines for the military. Conversely, humans spend more and more time alone (working from home, getting their communication via computer), suspicious of other members of our species, and longing to go for car rides on the weekends!

Just something to think about................