SEPTEMBER 2011: PET LOVERS & THOSE WHO DON’T ‘GET IT’

 “A species so intimately involved with our own, which has shared our life since time immemorial.” ~Alfred Barbou ~

I love advice columns and my favorite is by Carolyn Hax. A couple of months ago, a reader asked: “Dear Carolyn: What should be done about someone who insists on referring to a dog as a person/child/baby when it is done without any indication that it’s a joke? This person is aware that other people expecting actual, real children, don’t like the equivalency the dog person is creating. Grin and bear it, or say, “Please stop equating your dog with this baby“?”

Ms. Hax answered: “Do you really want to be the one who puts a value on someone’s attachment to his/her dog? Leave it alone. Be happy for anyone who feels love. Maybe this person’s attachments/passions/values don’t add up, in your opinion, but unless you’re at the gangplank of the Ark, and the rain is coming down, there’s really nothing to be gained by prioritizing your affections over others.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/when-is-a-dog-the-same-as-a-baby/2011/06/21/AGCq5nwH_story.html

How many times have most of us heard the words: “It’s just a dog” (or cat, or bunny, hamster, bird, etc….)?

For many of us, our pets live within our family’s center. Those not intimately involved with animals just don’t seem to ‘get it’, and I confess I used to be, in another lifetime, one of those who didn’t, entirely, get it. The Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, wrote:  “The greatest sin is to be unconscious.” Once, I was unconscious and I believe being unconscious of the animals that share our planet, and our lives, is hugely instrumental in any lack of understanding, care, and even abuse. (The good news is, once we’re conscious, we can probably never act in the same way towards these wonderful creatures.)

When I type the following: “The pets who are well taken care of live longer, happier lives.” my grammar check scolds me with its wavy green pencil because it wants me to change ‘who’ to ‘that’. Why is that? Why should we reduce animals to an ‘it’ status? I think of ‘it’ as an inanimate, unfeeling ‘thing’ and certainly not any of the vibrantly alive pets who live with me.

Those living with pets will probably agree that feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, sympathy, and even grief are experienced by their animals. That these feelings can even be attributed to animals is still hotly debated in scientific circles.

Marc Bekoff, is professor of biology at the University of Colorado and co-founder with the primatologist Jane Goodall of the group Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Sceptical behaviourists often ask him, ‘“How do you know dogs and elephants feel joy or jealousy or embarrassment?”’

Bekoff replies: “One retort is to say: how do you know they don’t? Darwin said there was continuity in evolution, so the differences between species are differences in degree rather than differences in kind. They’re shades of grey.

“If we feel jealousy, then dogs and wolves and elephants and chimpanzees feel jealousy. Animal emotions are not necessarily identical to ours but there’s no reason to think they should be. Their hearts and stomachs and brains also differ from ours, but this doesn’t stop us from saying they have hearts, stomachs and brains. There’s dog joy and chimpanzee joy and pig joy, and dog grief, chimpanzee grief and pig grief.”http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4595810.ece

Why do some people and cultures love pets while others don’t? An interesting essay address some of these questions http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/blogs/heather-wax/why-are-some-people-animal-lovers-while-others-arent.

Increasing numbers of motels allow pets and more and more cities recogize the need to include pets in city planning, including dog parks. Forbes lists Colorado Springs as the  most pet-friendly U.S. city, and in Seattle, dogs are allowed in many restaurants and to ride on metro buses. (For a guide to riding on public transportation in other cities, seehttp://www.dogfriendly.com/server/newsletters/features/transportation.shtml)  

Acceptance of the importance of pets in peoples’ lives is growing and, hopefully, it won’t be long before animal lovers will no longer need to explain ‘equivalancy’ between children (or any other persons) and pets.

If you would like to learn how to become a dog groomer, our classes begin the second Tuesday, of every month. Please contact our Dumfries School at 703-221-3647.

Two Toy Poodles, silver and white, are due to be born on September 9. If you’re interested in an addition to your family, please call Linda Law at 540-854-0046.

All three of our Northern Virginia locations need groomers & bathers. If you or anyone you know is interested, please see below, and give us a call!

~ Written by Rebecca Nilson ~ nilsonowensrebecca@gmail.com    

540-829-6665: Wash & Wag of Culpeper, 217 Southgate Shopping Center

703-378-9500; featherlepetcarechantilly@verizon.net, 13881-A Metrotech Dr.

703-430-0414;featherlepetcaresterling@verizon.net, 113-B Edds Lane

703-221-3647; canineclipperschool@verizon.net 18016 Fraley Blvd.