So I updated the blog software today and I’m like, “Why not write something?” so here we go. I’ve been thinking about dogs for a while now because, well, a dog has entered my life recently. No, not my girlfriend you bastards, but her dog. I, like many of you out there, suffer from allergies and it especially flares up around pets. Growing up was a litany of cats with a few dogs sprinkled here and there. It wasn’t until college that I finally freed myself, as well as my nasal passages, from pets.
Fast forward about 2 years ago. I met the love of my life and everything was perfect, except that she had a dog. My fears related toward the best solution I had for dealing with allergies: avoiding pets at all costs. But this time I had more at stake. So I bit the bullet and tried to make work. Welp, we’re still together and I’m not sneezing as much so it looks to be working out just great. But that’s not what I’m getting at.
Being so removed from pets, I’ve never had the chance to observe them with my fully developed cranium. In some respects, it gives me an advantage to see how pets operate from a different point of view. One of the things I noticed through the almost two years I’ve spent watching the dog is this: dogs are the most persistent creatures on earth.
I’ve handled dog behavior in good ways and in bad ways. I’m not perfect and maybe I could’ve handle some situations better, but the outcome never fails with the dog. No matter how I deal with what it’s done, it always keeps coming back for what it wants. Sure there may be some period of avoidance, but it either has a terrible memory or it just never holds a grudge. Whatever it is, it keeps its main goal of food, petting, and attention at hand and will just keep on trying to get the most of it.
From what I can gather, the domestication of dogs created some behaviors that make them react in ways that massage the emotion of its owner. Like its ears bending back and somehow attaining the perfect sad droopy face, dogs figured out when they are being scolded and counter with the right combo of moves to paralyze the owner with a remorseful facade. Once its over they seem to forget the whole thing and keep on keeping on.
I sense it. I get it. And I also respect it.
People tend to be just a little more complicated. I know within myself I can let one little thing meander down the road to pure rage or depression. Usually when that happens I get derailed off the track to where I want to be in life. Whether it’s for the day or something bigger for the month, sometimes I can let stuff get to me and change my behavior with actions and/or people. So when I see the dog bounce right back up after I scolded it looking for a biscuit or a scratch behind the head, I have to pause for a moment.
The way the dog acts makes me strive more to bang out what exactly it is I want and to keep pushing toward it, no matter what happens. It might also mean for me to go a little too far in pursuit because as someone else smarter than me said, “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness then it is to get permission.” I never thought I would get advice from a dog, but here it is. Rest assured, I won’t be drinking water from a bowl or cleaning myself with my tongue anytime soon.