LISTENING TO THE MYSTERY

There’s facts about a dog, and then there’re opinions about them. The dogs have the facts, and the humans have the opinions. If you want the facts about the dog, always get them straight from the dog. If you want opinions, get them from humans.

~ J. Allen Boone, Kinship with All Life ~

Dogs talk to us all the time. Of course, they speak in all the classic ways: body language, sound, and reaction to stimuli; however, they also tell us things we didn't know we knew. For example, I had a dog called "Kazbek," who told me that when dogs (canids) run in packs, they "know" where the shoulder of each pack member is. They align themselves with this part of the body as they run, each according to its rank and purpose. Later, I realized that one can feel the beat of a dog's heart, when pressing one's hand right below the shoulder and behind the elbow. Could this have been what Kaz was telling me? I cannot say from whence this idea came other than from the dog. I was unaware, at least consciously, of the loudness and vibration of the heart from that area. However, I am aware of it now - as are the dogs.

When we listen to dogs, via pragmatic application of observation together with intuitive merging, thoughts and visions seem to come out of nowhere, while provocative theories appear along with new information.

I used to discard the majority of these thought-pictures as they appeared, although I wondered where they came from. I am now convinced that dogs are able to share an internal perception - one which primitive man has long observed in all animals, but which civilized man has disregarded for so long that even the concept that a dog thinks, feels, and shares information is considered outrageous by many, and disturbing by some.

If you have truly loved dogs - be it one or many - you have, in one way or another, already experienced their secret world. Perhaps you accepted your experiences and honored them; perhaps you internalized your perception as a secret not to be spoken of.  Perhaps you dismissed your own insight as self-delusion, a dream, a pink elephant.

In my world, the dogs are relentless in their desire to be heard.