One of the My Doggie Says… themes is that dogs are smarter than most people think they are. If you watch your dog carefully, you will see signs of intelligence that surprise you (unless you’re one of the already converted). 🙂
Dogs can also be incredibly loyal to their owners. I’m constantly amazed at the stories about dogs that act like soldiers in the sense that they risk their lives in the service of society and their owner/handlers.
Here’s the story of Jake, one of the dogs that helped rescue people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Jake, a black lab retriever, lived in Utah, but he was one of the superstar rescue-dogs at ground-zero after 9/11, and he drove with his owner, Mary Flood, to New Orleans, to look for human remains, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Back home, Jake helped other dogs learn to follow scents wherever they might lead. He also helped to cheer up burn victims and senior citizens. Dogs like this seem to take their responsibilities every bit as seriously as a conscientious person would. Where does that loyalty come from? We need to be grateful for it.
On June 24, 2007, I wrote about an El Segundo police dog, Basco, that was killed in a hit and run accident. This was too close to home for me, because I know one of the officer/handlers for the police dogs in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. He lost his dog about a year ago in another tragic accident. This morning, our local paper, the Daily Breeze, has an article about a Redondo Beach police dog, Valor, that was stabbed twice by a man the police were trying to arrest. The police asked Valor to take the guy down, because he was saying threatening things. They didn’t realize he had a knife. Valor will be OK, but it’s another reminder of the risk these dogs, and their officers, take every day.
These dogs are trained to do what they do, but their loyalty and friendship seems to go beyond their training. They have a spirit and “humanness” about them that continues to amaze me.
