On Doggos

“And Dog brought fire to man” - Roy Willis, Man and Beast 

According to a group of researchers in Austria, dogs can mirror their owner's personality. In their study, they surveyed more than 100 dogs with their owners under five concepts of the human experience: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Dr. Schoberl, of the University of Vienna, stated that both owners and dogs influence each other’s coping mechanisms. For instance, a woman named Jill and her dog Olive are hyperactive in social situations, and they both are then relaxed when unwinding with a Netflix binge; it is much more than a coincidence. The conclusion that the researchers came to was that dogs are sensitive to our emotional states and will mirror our emotions accordingly. 

Dogs have been our best friend for more than 30,000 years.

I opened the gate to the dog park. The park was an empty green field with a water fountain for dogs and a single bench hiding in the shade of the trees planted along the chain-link fence that boxed us into the park.

Gerty is a chihuahua Shih-Tzu mixed dog. I took her in when she roughly 4-weeks-old and named her after the robot from the film Moon because her movements were stiff, almost like an animatronic puppy. She had big bug eyes up until maturity that would stare for table scraps and affection.  She has never been a fan of being in dog parks, at home she is an only dog that never socializes with other dogs, besides me.

Dogs have been known to dream. In the middle of sleepless nights, I notice Gerty moves her paws and makes vocalization noises while she is sleeping. I wonder what she is dreaming about, I wonder if it would be my brother David, she hasn’t seen him in two years and I wonder if she remembers him as I do. Dr. Barrett at the Harvard Medical School stated “There’s no reason to think animals are any different. Since dogs are generally extremely attached to their human owners, it’s likely your dog is dreaming of your face, your smell and of pleasing or annoying you.” She also cautioned this belief because there is no sure way to see what a dog sees in their sleep. Most mammals have similar sleep cycles that of humans; for instance, most mammals slip into a state of rapid eye movement sleep, this is where dreaming occurs for us. Dr. Barrett also states, “that certainly makes it the best guess that other mammals are dreaming too.” Based on the fact that dogs exhibit the same sleep patterns as humans. There is no telling what you are thinking, but it must be a combination of the environment you know and what her curious mind must concoct. Whether she perceives her environment as I do, or as something that we can never fully comprehend. 

     Gerty walked into the park with a hanging head. We sat down at a bench on the sidelines of the park; the man watching the dog and dog watching man. 

There were three other dogs chasing each other in the park: Tucker, Devin, and Tater Tot. 

Tucker was a Bernese Mountain dog with a soul that was as big as he was, he was the first to approach Gerty. He initiated a chase by throwing his wagging tail up in the air and spun in a circle. 

 Devin attempted to approach her; he approached her with a curious snout sniffing the ground around her. She pretended to not acknowledge him and only looked at him with a side-eye and anxiety. 

Tater Tot was last, she was able to get Gerty to turn her head; but, she could only be so close to her own species. 

Gerty was not interested in playing with these dogs, or any other dogs for that matter.

I did not want Tucker to go away from that experience empty-handed, or any of the other dogs for that matter, I gave them the attention they were begging Gerty for, I would tell them as I pet them,“You are the best of the doggos, I hope you get a lot of bacon tonight.”. I knew for a fact that Gerty was the best one out of all of them, and I would whisper that to myself so that they would not hear it.

     Tucker’s human, I didn’t take the time to ask for her name, approached us to pull him away and danced over to Gerty. 

She asked, “It’s okay if I pet her?”

“What is her name?”

Then she stated,

“You’re a good girl!”

Gerty was excited to be receiving human contact. She loved to be scratched along her spine; and in doing so, Gerty would attempt to lick whoever was giving her attention. Dogs like the taste of a person’s salty skin, but it also is a form of endearment when a dog licks a person. 

I replied to Tucker’ owner, 

“Yes, Gerty, and she is a good girl.”

Gerty was worn out, so we sat next to each other at a bench in the dog park; watching the other dogs with their owners playing fetch. 

“They are creature of their owner’s way of life...The pet offers its owner a mirror to a part that is otherwise never reflected.” 

Both the canines and humans were running around and around the park. Gerty remained where she was no matter any temptations of a tennis ball thrown her way or one of her “friends” approaching her to initiate a chase. 

After an afternoon of watching the ritual of wolves and savages further domesticate each other, Gerty looked up at me with a dancing nose and hanging tongue; eyes telling me exactly what is going to come next.

“Gerty, let's go home.”

I grabbed her leash and she tip-tapped to the gate of the dog park. I opened the gate door and we were free, homeward bound with a wagging tail and my head looking up watching geese flying in a V formation.