Wednesday, July 13, 2011

People watching.


We had animals when we all lived under one roof, cats, dogs, fish, occasional frogs and turtles.
Then, children grew up and left. Pets died.












My daughter and her husband have a big black lab/greyhound mix, and my son and his fiancee have a golden lab. All met during the Fourth of July weekend celebrations at my house.
After a few tense moments, they accepted each other's presence and began to  play parallel games. In the same yard they chased their respective stick or her ball, always watching what their master/person was doing.

They kept an eye on their own people at all times.
They followed me if I moved to the kitchen and each anticipated  the turn-about of my actions.

The black dog, who has known me the longest, feels quite at home in my place, even calls me a special name:  Lasagna!
Yes, she says something like that.
She knows that in my kitchen, during her visits, she'll be licking pots with tomato sauce and eating scrambled eggs for breakfast.

They each know when their people are about to leave the house, to leave them behind. At that point, they grow anxious,  and nothing can distract them except, maybe, real lasagna!

They know their people well.

Dogs can divine our moods, our intentions, by watching us carefully and sensing the next action. They have mastered the silent cues.  They are instinctively better listeners than we are.

We OUGHT TO LEARN from what dogs do.
We can write  better character descriptions by mastering these silent cues.
Each movement, tiny and subtle, will speak about  intentions, needs, hidden problems.

9 comments:

  1. The little boy I write about so much has a new black lab at his house. Yesterday was her first day there. Seeing the 28-pound boy and the 65-pound dog getting acquainted -- all those silent cues there, understood on both sides, and they were friends instantly.

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  2. Very insightful post. I remember one comedian pointing out that dogs don't speak because they can't, but because they know better. I can think of a number of situations where shutting up and listening would have produced better results than the mess I made by opening my mouth...

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  3. There is nothing like when they look you in the eye and hold your gaze as if they are all knowing and waiting for you to figure it out.

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  4. oh my..you have that all right...such in tuned beings..animals....
    I'll bet I'd say lasagna in the kitchen with you too
    yum....I'll bet yours is the best
    glad you had all that love around you
    a blessing

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  5. It is amazing what you can learn from pets. Without speaking, they say so much.

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  6. And you can't lie to them, they know the real story. They are our teachers.

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  7. Woof! woof! my dog likes what you've written:))

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