Meet my companions Emmie and Teddy. Emmie is the beautiful brindle on the left. She is nine years old, and sweet beyond description. Emmie is a natural athlete, full of beauty and grace, whether she’s in motion or stationary. Teddy is the con artist on the right. He’s 15/16 years old, yet everyone mistakes him for a puppy. He plays that to his advantage, stopping people and traffic and getting all the attention. In his book, he’s only doing his job.
We just returned from the off leash dog park. Teddy~the old guy~was literally leading a pack of 8 dogs. They were running in circles, nose to tail, ring-around-the-rosey. The dogs were having a great time getting to know each other and leaving ‘p-mail’ for other dogs to discover. I couldn’t help but notice the dogs were smiling at each other.
We humans were standing around, proud mamas and papas of our dogs, who were obviously enjoying themselves so much and behaving themselves so well at the same time. Then I noticed that the humans were also smiling, and communicating with each other in human ways.
We think of animal communication as people and animals talking together. While watching the dogs, I realized there is a part of animal communication I had never considered before: the animals successfully engaging the humans in communication with each other.
We all do better when all creatures do better. Thanks to the dogs at the park, I’m sure we humans will all do better today!
Emmie, Teddy & Janet Roper
