Canine Love

I love my pooch and she loves me.
I know it,
I show it..
But I wonder?
Does she know it?

If you were a dog in a dogs body
You would think like a dog
Constrained by the needs
Of it's evolutionary logs

So throw a mind into a dog
And what comes out?
A deep interest in smell
A smelly world with deep distinctions

Optics are our main modality
So we think in terms of human identities

A dogs brain is 3 times smaller
But Its olfactory bulb
Is 3 times larger

What does she smell? How does she see me?
How does smell affect, how we communicate?

In her mind I see
An adumbration of time

No past selves or
future selves
To align

Present moment realities
Impinge upon
The Canine mind

My love, how does she feel it?
She exposes herself, exposes her belly
And desires that I feel it. Rub it
Massage her muscles

Author's Note

I'm just really fascinated by my relationship with my dog Maggie. I wonder all the time, what is this I'm seeing in her? I don't want to anthropormphize. Animals have bodies that were created by their environment of evolutionary adaptedness; evolutionary lingo for how where you live and subsist upon will 'constrain' development towards the surving in that environment. I suppose there's no perfect way to explain that concept.

Anyways. Like I said, I am intrigued. I read books on dog cognition (despite other academic priorities!) and neurobiology just because I like to know more so I can think differently in my relationship with my dog. Knowing about her subjectivity, and imaginatively transporting myself into her world where I have a clear picture of her needs (or desires); or to even imagine a possible comprehension of her "understanding" of her relationship with me. It would not be communicated in any way similar to human cognition, I don't think.

Anyways, again, I'm just thankful that I have such a beautiful and shy, but open and gregarious - that image of opposites at different times - dog who I can spend some time with in this life. I always see myself as her guarding; someone invested with power to help or hurt her, and always seeking to do whats right; caring for her subjective reality. Loving it. Loving that he is helping her enjoy a rich canine life. With lots of stimulation and a sense of belongingness with other animate creatures: humans and other dogs/pets.