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Some Speculation on Dogs

It’s hard to know how to grieve when your dog dies. It affects you in a huge way. Some
of the toughest men I know – unsentimental, cantankerous, south ends of donkeys – have
been reduced to soft-bellied, sniveling little boys, when their dogs died.

It sometimes seems stupid to mourn the loss of a dog. You tell yourself, it was a dog, and
a dog is a dog is a dog. Employers give no bereavement leave for pet death. You keep
your heartache to yourself lest you end up moving to Walton’s Mountain playing Michael
Bolton covers of Barry Manilow songs.

It’s strange that a relationship so universally valued should so consistently run the risk of
stoicism on the one hand and schmaltz on the other.

It is my position that the loss of a dog is a big deal because the human/canine relationship
is a wildly significant one. In it we find something of the sacred and idyllic. The
relationship somehow taps into a long-forgotten, primal truth about the nature of things.

Martin Luther said, “A dog is a most faithful animal and would be more highly prized if
less common.” This is generally true, the more ordinary something appears to be the
more extraordinary it actually is (like eyesight, which makes the sonar of bats, seem
crude and primitive). It is true too that dogs are faithful, which is one of the things that
distinguishes them from other animals. The name “Fido”, after all, literally means
“faithful.”

I would argue (even though many would disagree) that it is in their relation to humans
that we believe dogs become most aligned with their intended nature. This is especially
true with hunting or herding dogs who both stand in good relation to the objects of their
instincts and their human masters. When we talk about a good dog we generally mean
one who is obedient, predictable, and performs its tasks.

This is why hyenas and wolves have generally been abhorrent to humans. Scavenging
hyenas because they tend to undermine the nobility of dogs – canine infidelity – and
wolves because they appear unfaithful to humans and thus to themselves.

Why are there so many evil wolves in fairy tales? Probably for the same reason there are
trolls and goblins and wicked stepmothers, because they are images of a corrupted good.
A goblin is a corrupted elf and a troll a corrupted dwarf. The wicked stepmothers say
nothing about literal stepmothers, but are rather symbols of a corrupted maternal nature.
A mother who does not nurture and love is no mother at all.

Likewise, fairy tales probably aren’t making literal statements about wolves but general
statements about corrupted natures. The wolf who eats the sheep is an infidel both to
humans and to sheepdogs. The boy who cries, “wolf!” corrupts the truth by lying, which
leads to his destruction at the fangs of the corrupt dog. Corruption breeds corruption,
which leads to destruction.
While the relationship between humans and dogs says something about dogs, it also says
something about humans. A good dog usually has a good master. When we hear stories
of terrible cruelties done to dogs, we are horrified by the pain inflicted but also because
of what these incidents say about a corrupt and sadistic human nature. And how do we
describe this treatment? As inhumane. Our treatment of animals says something about
our own humanity, our own nature.

A knight who mistreats is horse will rarely end up rescuing the damsel or slaying the
dragon. But a man who kicks his dog may well end up beating his wife and kids. A
circus poodle (or Chia pet with a central nervous system) speaks to the lack of human
nobility in the trainer to a greater degree than the lack of canine nobility in the poodle.
Similarly, a dog in a sweater and a child on a leash strike most of us as a subversion of
the natural order of things.

The ideal human/dog relationship is one of hierarchy – the human as leader of the pack.
It’s a study in the possibility of a good wielding of power. And here we may get to the
crux of the issue, for in this relationship we may find one of the few remnants of Eden.
For it was Eden where the humans named the animals, were caregivers to the world, and
pursued a harmony unspoiled by moral, physical, and natural pollution – before we
became sheep dressed in wolves’ clothing.

If it is hard to imagine that Edenic image of a lion lying down with the lamb, watch an
infant bury her face in the soft fur of a ninety-pound dog.

So the death of a dog is significant, it carries great metaphysical weight. At the very
least, it is another sad experience of Paradise Lost.

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