Why is it so easy and compelling for humans to love dogs, often
so much so than to love one another? We all are animals, humans and dogs alike,
both on top of the food chain, one species more advanced than the other,
equipped with self-awareness and logical reasoning, the other less advanced,
and yet, we get along so well, and for so long.
Humans have distanced themselves from our animal nature and
from our bodies, living disassociated lives from the neck up, expressing a tiny
little fraction of our grander identity as conscious beings, promoting
intellect over instinct, head over heart and body, thinking over feeling. And
that forgotten and denied part of ourselves, the Animal Self, trapped away
outside of our awareness and permission, has sought expression in a variety of
ways, from the joy of primal dance to the darkness of pathological,
out-of-control behaviour. Relating to a dog allows the animal in humans to come
out and play, literally and metaphorically. We touch, we kiss, we move, we hike
and explore wild nature trails otherwise largely ignored by dog-less human
beings, and we vicariously live a primal life of feeding, hunting and mating
through our animal friends.
Even then, we often miss the point, and we extend our
darkest deprivations upon them, removing parts of our dog friends’ bodies
without blinking because if we can repress our sexuality, we think that so can
they.
Kinook was spayed, and I had mixed feelings about it.
Spaying makes female dogs easier pets, with none of the annual or bi-annual
mess that intact dogs create; it also deprives the animals’ bodies of their sex
hormones which are such an integral and important part of anyone’s vitality.
Women at menopause seek hormone replacement therapy, and at the same time we
think nothing of our canine friends. I was sad that Kinook’s body was not
intact, wondering how it affected her, did she have pain? Was her mood, or
immune system affected? She couldn’t talk, and I couldn’t really know. At the
same time, a part of me was relieved that somebody else made that decision,
because if I adopted a new pup today, I would not want to have parts of their
bodies removed, which would be going against the cultural grain here in North
America where neutering and spaying is considered a responsible thing to do for
dog owners. Scandinavians believe that spaying and neutering animals is cruel,
and only a small percentage of the populations proceed with the surgery for
their animals.
When I adopted Kinook I was sensitized by my practices with
the healing arts, and for the first time in my living with dogs life, I’ve
asked myself not only what I wanted from a dog, but what a dog wanted and
needed from me. The name ‘dog owner’ sounded wrong, as if I owned this other
being, to do with as I please, like a toy, like an object; ‘dog guardian’ sat
well with my regarding Kinook to be a conscious, sentient being that I was
caring for.
I wanted to love her better than the ones before her, to
understand her ways and needs and motives, and no-one helped me better with
this new quest to love than a woman I met named Kathleen...
 |
| On the King's Trail in the Gatineau Park |
No comments:
Post a Comment