When bad things happen to good…..

Dogs. With all due respect to Harold Kushner, we’re talking about bad things happening to dogs. And I’m not referring to situations like mine, where I was mauled almost to death by 5 pit bulls, or like what happened to my foster sister Gracie, who was most likely physically but, for sure, verbally abused. No, what I’m barking about is what causes bad things to happen.

Have you read Garth Stein’s book, “The Art of Racing in the Rain”? It’ll be a subject for a longer discussion on another post some day, but for today we are referring to what Enzo, the dog narrator, says in the book, “That which we manifest is before us”. Ponder that. To me and my mom it means we create our own reality. That which we MANIFEST….that which we create. That which we show. That which we reveal, make obvious….it is before us. Having to listen to all of the audiotapes that mom listens to in the dog mobile, I was privy to this book and heard this statement. And it makes sense. And last Thursday, it was crystal clear.

Mom and I had a disagreement as to whether to post this. You see, I was attacked again. No, it’s ok. I wasn’t hurt. Well, my ego was bruised, but I was unscathed. Mom…she was a wreck. This time it was in an enclosed dog park in Chicago. But what made it worse was it was a golden retriever that came after me. Can you imagine? Humiliating. But this time, the owner was able to call the offending canine off of me, and rather quickly, thankfully for mom’s sake. But something very interesting happened as the situation unfolded. The guy, as he was holding back, via a very strong leash, his other golden retriever that was snarling and lunging at my brother, Ditto, made a statement that took us all aback. “This always happens at the gate”.

This always happens at the gate? Why? Well, y’know, American Telephone and Telegraph, and Thomas Edison, would KILL for the transmission quality that a leash has between the human and the dog. I can almost guarantee you that one time, some time ago, something bad happened at the gate that affected those Goldens. And I’m as sure as treats are good that it wasn’t the dog’s fault at all. But I’ll also bet that their human got upset. The man got upset—angry, scared, frustrated. And the golden’s, out of absolute in-tune-ness with their owner, learned that whatever happened at the gate is bad. So now, every time they are at the gate they sense their owner’s trepidation, and react. Of course nothing happened at the gate that overtly affected those goldens, but the man was scared that it would. The dogs read that and went after me and other dogs. “That which we manifest is before us”. This man created his own reality by telegraphing to his dogs that there is a problem at the gate. But there was no problem. My three siblings were resting under a tree, mom was talking to a friend, and I was about 10 feet away looking at everyone, and, well, I must admit—talking. There were other dogs running and playing. No one threatened these dogs. But his owner non-verbally told them otherwise.

Mom tells a story of when she got stopped for—shock—speeding by a State Policeman. Have I told you we call mom “lead foot”? He also, fortuitously, happened to be a Canine Trooper and his German Shepherd was in the back of the patrol car. Also, fortuitously or not, our Dakota Dog and baby Ditto Dog were in mom’s Jeep. Prior to this, mom had been having “issues” with Dakota. Seems he had started biting. In particular people who came to the door. So as mom and Trooper Phil were talking, Trooper Phil asked if he could pet Dakota. Seeing instant jail time, a state trooper with no face, and not enough money in the world to get a bond, mom said, “um I’m afraid he’ll bite you”. Trooper Phil then gave mom and Dakota the lesson of a lifetime. If mom doesn’t act nervous, Dakota will be fine. Not wanting to argue and really wanting to get on her way, mom acquiesced and immediately felt her heart in her throat when she saw Trooper Phil darn near crawl into the back of the car through the window. What did Dakota do? He kissed Trooper Phil all over, and got his wig-wag going at pretty high RPM’s. Mom was floored. Duh, mom. Took a speeding warning (not only did she get a lesson she DIDN’T get a ticket *HOWL*) to learn that SHE controlled the situation. That Dakota was so in tuned with her that he could sense her every emotion. When she got nervous, Dakota thought he had to protect her. From that day on, Dakota never bit another person (well except the one time the Fed Ex guy scared mom accidentally). That which we manifest…

We have a friend who has a golden retriever who is SO in tuned with her emotions, so perceptive of how she is feeling that the golden became physically ill during the time period her owner was in a bad relationship. It wasn’t until months later that our friend figured out that her golden got sick after she and her boyfriend began dating and got better after they broke up. That which we manifest….

So, while I didn’t want to have my ego even more bruised by sharing my story, mom and I both felt it was worthy, if anything, to get you to realize that you have to think about how you’re feeling or acting because “That which you manifest is before you”. And your dog knows it. It’s not bad dogs…it’s when bad things happen to good dogs.

Thanks for reading everyone. As always your comments are welcome. Hope you were Bearmused today!