44 thoughts on “Dog Spot”

  1. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    I am here, now. Heavy question, tim. I really do not know the answer beyond that. But my dogs seem to know.

    One of my dogs, Lucky, would tell you that the meaning of life is her food bowl and patrolling our yard. She is obsessed with food, hers, the other dog’s, ours. While we were in AZ this winter she got depressed without “her yard” to take care of, becoming mopey and irritable (similar to VS’s dog who lost the other dog that VS referred to yesterday). That’s it for her.

    The other dog, thinks that the meaning of life is me. She was a very traumatized rescue dog who found safety in my lap. Boots keeps close tabs on me, and does not stray too far from me, always watching.

    I will keep hunting for the answer to your question under the rocks in my garden. Maybe an elf or a garden diva will slip the answer on a note.

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    1. Your observations about your dogs suggest that even they don’t live exclusively in the moment. Bundled in are their past experiences, their anxieties, and their expectations.

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      1. Your point is more controversial than you might expect, Bill. Nobody can flatly say that dogs live entirely in the moment. And yet they do so to a remarkable extent. I say this after closely watching several hundred hours of film in which dog expert Cesar Millan works small miracles with misbehaving, messed-up dogs.

        Over and over, the key to saving a neurotic dog is to provide calm, confident leadership. That means that almost always the unacceptable behavior of a dog is its response to anxious, weak human leadership. And that means dogs that seem utterly incorrigible can be restored to health if given good leadership. Millan cures misbehaving dogs by helping their owners get their heads straight.

        It embarrasses me to make a comment based on stuff I’ve seen on television. But I have a special interest in dogs. For a decade I have studied Milan’s shows. My initial skepticism has melted.

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  2. Our new kitten has concluded that the meaning of life is to be as sweet and charming as she can. I th8nk the true meaning of life is best summed up by Penzey’s Spice company-Love people and cook them good food.

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  4. Hopefully my purpose isn’t always “to be rushing about”, but this morning it is.

    Short answer according to my menagerie – be here to wait on them hand and foot!

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  5. Most folks know dogs have evolved from wolves. The two species share 99.5 % of their genes. Many people then go on to make false assumptions about other ways dogs and wolves are the same.

    As “dog whisperer” Cesar Millan often notes, one critically important way dogs are like wolves is that they are pack animals. They are happiest when living in a pack. One way dogs differ from wolves is that dogs have been bred to accept humans as part of their natural pack.

    For a dog, then, life is about having a great day with the pack. Having a great day centers on exercise, social contacts with pack members, food and sleep. Lucky is the dog that has a job to perform, especially when the job is shared by human or canine pack members.

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  7. the answer you get to the question is si revealing about the person giving it
    having a dog as a mediator putsca new spin on it
    everyones view of life through the eyes of a pet is altered.
    maybe viewing life that way is the answer
    sometimes you get befuddled by trying to figure it out. if you just pit on someone elses shoes for a mile or two it offers some insights
    when i go through my list of dog perspectives i realize each personality gets hooked into viewing life through that lens and isnt the least bit aware of the other side of thecequation and yet they try to their best
    i have never seen a dog who wasnt there 100% and doing all it could to get to thebest version of their idea of a perfect day. sometimes being left alone in a house with the doors closed requires a couch potato posture.
    i dont have that excuse.
    my 24 year old son just started his new job 3 weeks ago
    the true meaning of life is more within reach when you have non couch potato options. im not sure how to wrap that up in a response but maybe the true meaning if life is not a snippit its an understanding
    find a path and enjoy it
    make sure you choise wisely
    to choose obe thing is to choose not to do everything else

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  8. I had an interesting experience related to the issue of whether dogs live in the moment or harbor bad memories as people tend to do.

    One of my vices is yelling the f-word when something upsets me. I do this only in private, never when there is someone else around. I once was alone at my daughter’s home when something triggered my bad habit.

    But I had a witness. Chloe, my daughter’s dog, is a shy dog with mostly Labrador retriever parentage. Chloe was sleeping nearby when I said the f-word. She raced out of the room, her body a perfect picture of terror.

    When my daughter and grandson returned, I described this to her. I suggested that Chloe recognized and feared swear words.

    My daughter conferred. She told me there is a list of foul words that terrify Chloe. My daughter rescued Chloe from a home where the adults abused dogs, children and each other. Their language was harsh and foul. Consequently, Chloe recognizes several curse words. When she hears any of them she is reminded of her spooky past and she flees.

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  9. Adopted abused dogs clearly carry memories. One in this building has some, for instance, he will not go near anyone carrying anything that looks like a stick. The first fifty times you pet him, you have to let him smell your hand first or he shies behind hid owner. After that he trusts.

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    1. we had a shivery littel rescuse dog that my daughter piced out who was ovbviously abuse by someone i reminded him of. he got friendly just beofre he died when it dawned on him i wasnt a problem. ther eis ne in the new neighborhood who is scared to death of me. the other day ha made the owner come over and stop while he said hello. it made me feel like there is hope. if scared little dogs can gain an understanding maybe rural white america has hope

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  11. I do turn circles before I go to sleep. I avoid smelling other people’s rear ends. I wish I was as forgiving as dogs or worshiped at the level our long-time dog Ellie worshiped Sandy. I have to resist scratching behind my ears. I seem to be here to worry, which I think must be a gene from my mother’s family. I avoid eating dog food but Sandy does, several times a week at McDonalds. I am not quite as focused on food as a dog, but close. I am awake half the night and sleep half the day. I stare at squirrels but I do not bark at them. It is possible I am here to feed the squirrels. My legs do twitch in my sleep. I would be a lone wolf, well, lone dog. Are there lone dogs? I have close to the same opinions of cats as do most dogs. (Actually every dog I ever owned in childhood and in life liked cats) According to Vonnegutt we are here to make a replacement part for a broken space ship.
    Mostly, I am here, too.

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  13. BLEVINS tomorrow. Who’s coming?? Chris and I. Anybody else?? We can turn on Puppy Bowl for a bit if anybody wants!

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    1. Me, me,me. And Lou.

      “I have read the Atkinson book,” she said self righteously. “Lou has not read it.”

      “He just wants to nosh ans socialize,” She sniffed.

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    3. I will be there, and Occasional Caroline is riding with me. I’ve read maybe about 1.8 book selections this time. Still working on it.

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  14. I hope to come. And – for the first time EVER – I have read both books all the way to the end. Usually I start one and don’t finish it. Or I finish one and never start the other. Or – I don’t start either one. So, Lou, don’t feel bad.

    Just don’t expect me to add much to the book discussion. I finished them a while ago and details are hazy.

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      1. tim, I’m bringing gingerbread.

        If I bring the twins, I’ll just drop them off and go somewhere else. That would be fun for you, tim, wouldn’t it.

        You really want Jim to bring you just one tomato seed?

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  15. And Monty Python weighs in:

    Lady Presenter: Well, that’s the end of the film. Now, here’s the meaning of life.
    [She is handed a gold-wrapped booklet.]
    Lady Presenter: Thank you, Brigitte.
    [She clears her throat, then unwraps and examines the gilt booklet.]
    Lady Presenter: Well, it’s nothing very special. Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations. And, finally, here are some completely gratuitous pictures of penises to annoy the censors and to hopefully spark some sort of controversy, which it seems is the only way these days to get the jaded, video-sated public off their f**king arses and back in the sodding cinema. Family entertainment? Bollocks. What they want is filth: people doing things to each other with chainsaws during tupperware parties, babysitters being stabbed with knitting needles by gay presidential candidates, vigilante groups strangling chickens, armed bands of theatre critics exterminating mutant goats. Where’s the fun in pictures? Oh, well, there we are. Here’s the theme music. Goodnight.

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    1. As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat
      there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and
      yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way. — Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

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