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| A little coffee with your healthy dose of dog hugs? |
By now most of us are aware that petting a dog or cat is
scientifically proven to reduce stress and depression in humans. Along with the
more obvious benefits such as companionship, unconditional love, increased
opportunity for exercise and socialization, interacting with an animal causes
the body to release a stress-reducing hormone called oxytocin into the
bloodstream and reduce the production of cortisol, which is a stress-causing
hormone. Non-human animals are good for
us.
Then there’s the story of the rescued dog, Mac, whose
disability left him unable to climb stairs. When a fire broke out in his family’s home he somehow dragged himself up a flight to wake them, saving them all (by Caroline Golon, halopets.com).
The headlines are full of similar stories. In the Huffington Post the headline reads,
“Rescue Puppy Saves Owner’s Life by Alerting Her to Gas Leak” (Melissa
McGlensey). In a violent incident of
road rage in
Georgia, a dog leapt in front of gunfire to save his family, losing his own life (Michael Pearson, CNN). They save our lives.
In a small town in Delaware
there is a young boy who was adopted from an orphanage in Bosnia. He has Spina Bifida and uses a
wheelchair. He visits the hospital
frequently. These things set him apart
from his peers and he feels lonely. In
the same town a black dog that lost the use of his hind legs languished in
foster care for nearly a year. Loved and
cared for by his foster/rescuers at LNF Dog Rescue, they were stunned that the
gentle dog was passed over again and again by potential adopters. When the boy’s family heard about the dog
who uses a wheelchair they immediately adopted him. Now the boy and the dog are like brothers, no
longer lonely, no longer the outsider, leaving their wheelchairs to swim
together in the family’s therapeutic pool like happy fish. They rescue one another every day.
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| Family Photo. |
An integral part of the human condition is the fact that
many of us feel rescued by our rescues.
Our loneliness is mitigated by their presence, our grief is truncated by
their affection and our lives are changed indelibly because they are a part of
it. Indeed this is the case with all
companion animals if the human among them is on par with this phase of the
evolutionary process. That is, sharing the
viewpoint that the other beings with whom we share this planet are not our
property, but our responsibility at the very least, and our family for the great majority of Homo
sapiens.
What of those who declare they are “just dogs” or “just
animals”? As if to say “just human” would be an outrage because we have somehow
outclassed the “just” prefix. This gives
us permission to classify some as slightly below or perhaps deeply below “our
kind”. It has a stench much like the
Bible interpreters who justify the dismissal of women and gay people as lesser,
with the imagined backing of certain passages they opportunistically read
literally, when the evidence is piled high against such a simplistic approach.
Here is an anonymous post reacting to the question, “Are
humans animals?” Just for fun. (I have
corrected some of his more glaring errors, the silly monkey):
“READ YOUR BIBLE. If you have the nerve to count yourself as
a position as low as an animal then just go around and call yourself that.
‘Cause I will not call myself a living beast
eating my feces, sniffing things, licking my
stuff (I
think you might do this if you could – the author), living in the wild, be a pet, and pick up my turd and throw it at someone.” (I know where
I’d throw my turd - the author)
My apologies to other Bible readers who are deeply mortified
by this individual.
This seems like an excellent place to talk about the SAE
fraternity for just a moment, because I don’t think I can get through the day
without weighing in on this (my apologies to the decent frats and sororities who are truly community minded and not raving sexists and racists. Seriously though, the bar is pretty low for you guys). The little
ditty the SAE men drunkenly bleated as they rode along on their bus made reference to
black people “hanging from trees.” When
we measure the intelligence of humans to prove we are inordinately more clever
than dogs, let’s not use a frat boy as the standard for measurement. Like fraternities, dogs historically ran in
packs. Sometimes they ate each other’s
poo to clean up after their young and to protect their sick or dying whose
leavings might attract predators, and just to keep the den tidy. Yet this group has enormous appeal when held
up against these “Greek” petri dishes of over-privileged white people,
festering in their own stupidity and spreading their shallow diseases to one
another under the translucent guise of their organization’s philanthropic
activity. It’s quite a different kind of
poo-eating from these highly evolved humans.
Dogs don’t seem to get hung up on the sorts of biases and grudges we do,
and often if a dog behaves poorly there is a human behind it. Just a human.
Maybe it’s time to take a good long look at ourselves before we paint
ourselves as worthy of “dominion” over the other beings in our midst. The hubris is galling.
“Genesis was
originally written in Hebrew, and since every translation involves
interpretation, we do well to ask about that English word, ‘dominion.’ (Some
translations read ‘rule over,’ instead.) In biblical Hebrew, the word indeed
supposes a hierarchy -- someone in a position of power exercises this quality
over inferiors. So ‘rule over’ or ‘have dominion’ is actually quite accurate.
However, its interpretation as the right to exploit and despoil is not.” - Kristin M. Swenson, Ph.D.
And what shall be done with Rebecca Miller and Janice
Freeman who would abuse and/or murder well over 100 dogs, tossing their bodies
into garbage cans like so much forgotten rubbish? (http://www.nbc12.com/story/28263279/more-than-130-dogs-found-in-choctaw-co-puppy-mill)
In the case of these Alabama
puppy mill demons, these psychopaths, I say without caveats that they are
murderers and should be dealt with as such.
And then there's Natwan Callaway and Bobby Hollinger, who tied a dog intended for
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Tampa Police Sgt Rich Mills Rescued this helpless
dog who had been shot and was tied to the railroad
tracks.(Tampa Police Department's photo) |
fighting to the railroad track and then shot her several times because she was too kind-natured to engage in their chosen sport. What of these youngsters, just 17 and bloodthirsty, with all the charming indicators that they'll certainly cut a human into tiny pieces as they blossom into glorious adulthood; tiny little red flags poking out of their every filthy little orifice. The dog survived, rescued by police sgt Rich Mills. Lock them up and toss away the key.
The naysayers will cry, “But where do you draw the line? If you step on a bug do you go to jail?” I say those details can work themselves out,
but let’s start with the dog killers.
Meanwhile, how about we step on fewer bugs? How about at the very least we don’t elevate animal
abusers and murderers as they continue with their lives, as we do with Michael
Vick, who left so much horror and damage and so many dead bodies in his wake as
he trotted onto the football field, glorified and wealthy beyond most of our
wildest dreams. Excuse me one moment, I
just threw up a little in my mouth.
"Take only memories. Leave only footprints." - Chief Seattle
The above quote asks that we be stewards of the earth; noble custodians over all that we see. It is an impossible order to fill. Our presence alone is apocalyptic for many species and aspects of the environment. We can at least mitigate the damage by using compassion in our approach. We can do our best to do no harm. Why not start with a two pronged approach, treating our own species with dignity and respect. Concurrently, as we work to master just behaving decently toward one another, we can begin to view man's very best friend as a viable being with sentience, capable of great emotion, profound loyalty and experiencing pain and pleasure much like we do.
-Kiki Nusbaumer
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