Nov 23 2002
Dog Days
Jed the Wonder Dog’s recent accident seems to have made me more aware of news with canine content. Either that, or the entire world shares my concern, which is the way it should be, of course.
I love it when scientists spend a boatload of time and money to come to a conclusion that anyone with any sense could have told them was the case. The latest example is the one that shows that dogs and human have a special bond and ability to communicate with each other that is greater even than our close relative, the chimpanzee. Anyone who has seen my brother and Jed together, or has had a dog of their own, knows that. Ginger, the dog we had when I was a girl, saved my brother more than once in true Lassie style, including the time when Jonathan fell deep inside a snow bank and Ginger went and got Dad immediately, barking and fussing until Dad rescued Ginger’s charge. No-one trained him to be that way, he just was. There was a real bond between that boy and his dog. And it only took 15,000 years or so to get that way.
The London Times is my start page. All the news from everywhere at a glance, unlike our local paper, in which anything outside California simply doesn’t exist. There is, of course, coverage of the ongoing soap opera provided by the Windsor family, including Princess Anne’s day in court after her dog bit a couple of kids. I think that Anne should get credit for going to court at all, since she could have easily weaseled her way out of it, and being fined like anyone else. I also think it’s great that she is taking her dog to obedience boot camp instead of killing it.
I recently came across this fascinating article in the Times, (inspired by the Anne déb?cle), and learned a few things about dogs that I hadn’t known before, including the derivation of the word “feisty” (it’s not what you think). The scientists (and you) should definitely check it out.
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