Dogs and Communication

Hello Everyone,

I originally sent this email on February 28, 2013

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As someone who spends a lot of time with pets, I've often wondered if they get frustrated trying to explain something to us that their superior senses allows them to understand quite easily, but which is very difficult for us to perceive. There is some level of communication between pets and their people, but it's limited in a lot of ways and not just because they can't speak English. How would they make us understand something that they can perceive through their amazing sense of smell, when we just don't experience much the world through our noses, and probably can't even smell what they are referring to? I ask this because the reverse is certainly true. Our superior ability to reason allows us to know things that our pets can't perceive, and that we can't explain it to them, even if they did speak English. I had a few instances recently that illustrated this. In the first, I was walking Sophie and Arthur at our usual dog park, as I have pretty for much every day that Sophie's been alive (5 and a half years) and that we've had Arthur (5 months). The park is next to the Rideau river, but in the winter I avoid going too close to the water because it runs quickly at one point, making the ice thin. I can't explain this to the dogs because I wouldn't be able to explain to them how I know this. It's not because I can see or smell thin ice that allows me to know that it is thin, so I wouldn't be able to relate it to anything that makes sense to them.

At one point, my duo ran off to see another dog whose owner was new to the park and had ventured closer. Once they were near the river, Sophie smelled a fish or something out on the ice and went to investigate. I called and called to get her to come back, but a fish is a big draw. So big that Arthur went out on the ice as well. Fortunately, the ice was strong enough to support their 40 and 60 pound bodies, respectively, even when they were rubbing themselves in the snow to pick up the smell of whatever was there. When they did come back to me, I couldn't be angry at them, at least visibly, despite them smelling like dead fish, because I couldn't communicate that you shouldn't go out on the ice in a spot you know to be thin. A similar thing happened with Obi, our roommate's little dog. He loves Sophie's food, likely on account of the extra butter we put on it, but also because Arthur always eats all of his, leaving none for the little guy to scrounge over there. Not the case with the Poodle. Some of you may remember that a few weeks back, Obi had to go to the emergency vet as he wasn't well and his belly seemed inflated. They weren't exactly sure what was wrong, but it probably had something to do with him gorging himself on Sophie's kibble. Even when she leaves just a bit of her food, it's a bonanza when you weigh six pounds. To put it into context, he has to eat her kibbles one at a time.

Same day as the river incident, after I had fed the dogs, Sophie didn't finish all her food, and a few minutes later, I see Obi madly eating all he can from her dish. I go over to take it away, and just as I am lifting the bowl, he dashes his head in it repeatedly to grab as much food as possible, filling his mouth and spilling a bunch on the floor. Maggie does the same thing, and it's even harder to get her away from it. I couldn't explain to Obi that eating this delicious food was what caused his belly ache a few weeks ago. That kind of time span doesn't compute in his little doggy brain. All he perceives is amazing food, of which he tries to eat as much as physically possible, and then a few hours later, out of the clear blue sky, he gets a terrible pain in his belly. Determining cause and effect is not a strong suit of dogs, especially when it involves hours and days between the two. This weekend, Anna and I will be hosting some friends in our amazing hot tub. As with last year, we've rented a hot tub for a week. It was something of a chore to dig out a hole in the ice and snow to fit the thing in our yard, but the warm weather helped a bunch. I didn't make it quite big enough and the installation was a rigamarole, but we eventually got it done. It was great to sit in it last night with the snow falling and wind blowing all around us. Arthur is insatiably curious, and loves to swim, so he was angling to get in the tub the entire time we were out there last night. It's going to be a bit of a struggle to keep him out. Right now, he's just tentatively putting his paw on the edge, but because of the buildup of snow and ice, the lip of the tub is almost even with the snow pack. If he gets up the courage, I could see him taking a leap and ending up in the water with us. Sophie holds no such ambition. It's beneath her dignity. wes

#Dogs #Arthur