The My Doggie Says… blog is about improving your relationship with your dog by getting better at “listening” and communicating with your dog. The point of “My Doggie Says…Messages from Jamie. How a dog named Jamie ‘talks’ to her people” is that you can learn to be a better “dog listener” by observing your dog’s behavior. Then, you can do a better job of nurturing your dog and your relationship with your dog.
What kind of relationship can you expect to have with a pet? This seems like a pretty fair question to ask. After all, you’re probably not going to walk your dog down to the local pub, buy it a beer, and unload all the problems you’re having at work.
A relationship with a pet is different. You probably don’t discuss your personal problems with your pet. (Actually, it might be worth a try. Dogs learn a lot from our tone of voice, and your dog might relate to your emotional state.) But you might be surprised how tuned in your pet really is. I felt, at times, that Jamie could sense if I was upset about something. If she could see that I had a wound, like a scratch from some bushes on a hike, she would be quick to lick my wound. But it seemed to work at a more emotional level, too. These last few days, I’ve had a sore back, and I’m sure Callie senses something is wrong. She isn’t jumping up on me in her puppy enthusiasm as much as she usually does.
But here’s a story that makes you really wonder how smart, or at least sensitive, animals can be. It’s a story about a “hospice” cat that seems to know when patients are about to die. (“Cat Plays Furry Grim Reaper at Nursing Home“) When the cat snuggles up with nursing home patients, they die within about four hours. So far, the cat has been right twenty five times.
This story reminds us that we don’t completely understand how smart our pets can be. Who knows if this cat is “smart,” or if it is using some extreme sense of hearing, seeing, or smell? In any case, how the cat can sense that death is imminent is certainly a mystery to most of us.
So don’t assume that your dog is just another “dumb animal.” Remember that it hears and smells things that you don’t necessarily hear or smell. And it may sense emotions in ways that you don’t understand. Try to understand why it does the things it does, and you will find your relationship with you dog working a different level. Observe your dog’s behavior and try to figure out why it does the things it does.
You might be surprised!
