On the road

We’re leaving for a road trip across the country tomorrow, and, of course, our two dogs are coming along. I’ve gone on a few such trips with dogs. Their reactions always differ, sometimes exhilaration, sometimes something of an academic engagement, and sometimes worry.  I have also seen dogs demonstrate a prescience (even sorcery it seems at times) that can stymy the average human, even the average human dog lover. They have known things that at times not even I suspected.

Leap 2

This was a necessary addition to my nascent project accounting  instances of dogs defying physics along with the the imagination. I think it needs no more introduction….

The kids are speaking out : guns are dangerous and dogs are not

Meet Finley. He is a happy beagle. He is a lucky beagle. He was definitely not bred to be happy or lucky. His story can be found here https://rescuefreedomproject.org/finley/

Finley is the kind of guy who deserves attention. Finley is sadly pretty easy for most of our species to ignore. It’s easy for many humans to ignore his people’s history when they spend such a good deal of their time eyeing the myriad products promising youth, energy, beauty and what not. But of course, not everybody ignores issues such as animals used laboratories and many people are vigilant and outspoken. Lately I’ve been thinking about who is speaking out stuff that is important. Who gets media attention and gets us listening  about issues such as animal testing and other pertinent and immediate concerns like slaughtering kids by machine gun in schools. The first, animal testing, is certainly not limited to America (although amongst “developed nations, America certainly wins the prize), and the second, shooting up crowds of kids, is a twisted American phenomena. It takes a lot to get past our cognitive dissonance and certainly both for beagles and schoolchildren willful blindness is more common than true regard.  I’m an incurable cynic most of the time, but I couldn’t quite help but feel a surge of optimism when reading about some of our current activists — children and adolescents.

Yuilek is pretty cool

This is Yuilek. She is a native dog living in a sanctuary in Thailand called Elfesworld. She most likely was destined for the meat trade that still is rampant in Thailand and other countries. (I recently read an article about how I was not allowed to criticize the dog meat trade because it occurred in foreign countries and I had no right as a westerner to denounce any of their eating habits: cultural relativism gone very very awry).

I don’t understand why mice are such a serious matter

Along with keeping a keen eye out for deer and frozen deer poop (yum) on the property —  see previous post re: his dedication to maintaining proper behavior by all species on his premises (expect turkeys who are just scary and best to stay clear from), Mowgli has taken to studying mouse behavior. Unfortunately he is overly studious on this front and not all that proactive at all. He must have several volumes of notes catalogued in that head by now.

 

 

 

Leap

Mowgli, my Indian Desi dog, stands 2.5 feet at his withers on a good day. He sports a greyhound-like physique (strong, fast, slim).  He also parades a very magnificent polka dot and almost naked belly.

 

 

Although I’m partial, I do think this belly is worth a second look. 

Hailing from a hot and humid clime, Mowgli should find  snow and winter disagreeable. His people have lived far from anything chilly for millenia, and thus have adapted their anatomy accordingly.  Mowgli has a deep chest like many sighthounds, and as I mentioned, it is almost bare. Considering all this, you’d think Mowgli would share my reluctance to immerse body parts like unprotected hands and bellies into deep snow. But Mowgli does not share my aversion at all .

The Old Dog (Vicki Hearne)

The Old Dog

The old dog
would, as a puppy

would, grab truth, gladding the air.
There were leaps

that brought trees to their height
death to its knees. She

lost no time, had nothing

to make up for. Now time
has lost itself

for her and God
did not consult me, God

moved in on her
with assault, intent.

She is limp, there
is no further motive in her.

This love
leaves an iridescent tracery

behind, a veneer that keeps
the distance between me

and the world merely a thing.

……………d          ViVicki Hearne,  “The Old Dog,” in Tricks of the Light

 

 

 

 

At hand

Here is a poem I worked on for several months this spring and summer. First, the poem, and then, some of the backstory. 

At hand

This still, silent body under my naked palm
inhales and exhales
to the cadence of
his slow, sleepy heart.
His impossible velvet cloaks us both like
wizards growing ponderous at dusk.

Finding one’s familiar

 

The marks of my familiar

When my dog was a bewildered, unschooled  youth, a dog yet to find himself, and he and I still new to each other, we often walked along a wooded path.  He and I would work our way, learning how to respond to all things external and internal without panic. Often we would have this path to ourselves, but on occasion we came upon others seeking the forest’s clean, quiet air.  More often than not, people skidded to a stop mid-stride as soon as they cast eyes on my puppy.