I always wanted a dog when I was a kid. I begged for one at times. I remember one year, at Thanksgiving, Mom threw the turkey carcass out into the backyard for the birds “to pick at.” About half an hour later, she was screaming for my Dad, saying a dog had invaded. I think she was afraid of dogs, somehow, although she claimed she wasn’t.
She had a dog when she was a kid. I’ve seen a photograph of it. But something bad happened to that dog, and I never got the straight story, only that it was “removed” by my Grandfather, perhaps, resulting in her dislike of them.
Back to the turkey, getting ripped to shreds in the backyard. Of course, this was horrible for the health of the dog. My Dad was out there, trying to shoo it away. All us kids had to stay in the house to avoid the impending danger. But I stood there crying, begging to keep it. I don’t remember how the situation resolved itself. My Dad probably got the dead turkey away from the dog, disposing of it, and the stray had no more reason to stay.
A bunch of my friends in the neighborhood had dogs, and I sure did love them. I wouldn’t get my own until I was almost 30 years old. I’ve been hooked ever since.
Recent science, molecular data, has proven that all dogs descend from wolves. I am a firm believer in science, and I trust the scientists when they tell me this. But it is hard for me to fathom. I have Little Lou, you see. He is the furthest thing from a wolf that I’ve ever seen. The koi in our pond seem more likely to have descended from wolves than Lou.
He often implores humans to pick him up, hold him, and love him. He has it, in his little head, that sits on his seven-pound body, that the world is not right until he is given proper attention by the human species. His only wolf-like behavior occurs when someone tries to put him down. A small growl resonates from deep within his canine self.
Of course, there are many dogs around who seem very distant from their wolfish ancestors. From Yorkshire Terriers to Great Danes, dogs come to us in incredible variety. It is hard to remember they belong to the same species. In fact, there are so many breeds today — around 150 — that illustrate what intentional interbreeding has done in the past 150 years.
Purebreds have been created with highly individual traits. And then there is the crossbreeding of dogs, which gives us an unending variety of the Heinz 57 breed. So yes, they are a-plenty.
The best thing about dogs is how crazy-good they are at loving us. Never have I seen a species be so loyal, so kind, and so enamored with other species, especially the human kind. They give of themselves unconditionally, and when I think about it long enough, it always makes me cry.
We could learn a lot from dogs that way.
We could also take another chapter from them about our ancestors. Like dogs, we humans have also descended from a common source. Modern humans, or Homo sapiens, emerged in Africa about 200,000 years ago. All of us. Maybe if people would get this through their heads, just maybe. I should leave it at that. Just maybe.
==========
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”
– Orhan Pamuk
==========
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers
=========
“Humans see what they want to see.”
― Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
========
From the common source, like wolves, we are.
