BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Dogs Great dog quote

I'm sitting here reading Dean Koontz's newest "Odd Thomas" book, and if y'all are at all familiar with Koontz, then you know he is crazy about dogs.

Well, this one quote from the book I just loved, and I thought you guys would appreciate it, too.

from "Odd Hours" by Dean Koontz

Very nice.

Not true, but very nice.

This is a typical human emotional transference.... where a human imposes human thought cognisance upon a dog, where no such cognisance exists...

Dogs know nothing of the kind. they don't regard affection in the same light as we do.
as for them being the first therapists - by the time such a necessity became the norm amongst humans, dogs had lost their original purposes and were pretty much redundant as hunters and army fighting members and had been relegated to role of companions only.
If anyone was in need of therapy, they were....

as a dog behaviourist, such books irritate the heck out of me..
I'm so sorry to be a party pooper, I really am.
but it's a constant fight I have with owners who mistakenly transpose human emotions on their dogs, then wonder why their 'widdle bubbies' are so screwed up.....!

Wow, Alexandra! That was a rather negative slap-down when all I was trying to do was post what I thought was a nice sentiment.

I have always had large dogs, mostly mutts but generally labrador retriever stock in them - so I have literally never referred to any of my dogs as "widdle bubbies".

And my dogs were always "farm dogs" growing up - they never had obedience or behavioral training.

Yet these animals were always loving and fun and enjoyed cuddling as much as playing. So I do believe dogs (and cats) have emotions and personality.

Perhaps you've been working with the clinical side of training dogs for so long that it is hard to remember the fun and joy they bring.

Hello!

I enjoyed the quote very much!

I feel like it is true, from what I've seen it in children's hospitals and nursing homes.

When we were at a medical facility a few years ago, Dh�s appointment shared the same floor as the children�s cancer center (adults were on one wing, children on the other). The medical staff had arranged for several therapy dogs to come in and visit the children at the cancer center.

Many of the children were very depressed and having a really hard time. The dogs calmly and patiently waited by the children, with their cute grins and wagging tails.

I felt like the dogs knew that this child or children needed to have something to smile about, to have something to love, to pet, and just to be with a friend that had nothing to do with medical stuff.

It wasn�t long before the kids just fell in love with their four legged visitors, and were grinning from ear to ear. They opened up to the dogs like they had not opened up to anyone else in the past since becoming sick.

I�ll never forget that memory, and your quote made me remember it all over again�thank you!

All my animals have had emotions. My dogs smile.. literally smile when they are happy. In addition to the wagging of tails, etc that goes on. They can act coy and do this little half lipped smile that is like.. hey look at me.. i am being coy. My Che (small chihuahua) is a little love and also very protective of all the animals in the house. His brother who is twice his size is more bashful and a cuddler in disguise.

so I believe very much so animals have and express emotions and it is not a human transference on them.

Well, yes, hence my apology for coming down somewhat harshly.... But such authors are apt to perpetuate the distorted impression that animals have humanistic tendencies, when in fact, it's the other way around.....


I never said you did. I said I have constant problems with owners who do....

Again, I never said animals don't have emotions or personality. Of course they have emotions and prsonalities.....I said the problems arise when owners transpose their own thought cognisance onto dogs.
The big difference between animal emotions and human ones is that animals carry no baggage, issues or agendas.



On the contrary, having worked with people and animals for such a long time, I know very firmly into which camp my enjoyment, pleasure and sheer joy falls. And it's not with the humans.

I'm very sorry if my post offended you.
Had I known you were looking for responses that agreed with you, I wouldn't have posted.
Is it discouraged to enter into dialogue, if one disagrees with a post, then?

No Alexandra, and I apologize for the voracity with which I came back at you.

I have been dealing with so many contentious areas lately, then I found this rather sweet sentiment, put it on the dog forum - and feel like I get attacked- in the last place I expected to, LOL!

I just really was not expecting a huge debate to come out of this forum. Especially over something that a fictional writer (not a dog specialist) wrote.

So I'll just pull out of this one.

I believe dogs have emotions and memory. We have a rescue and call it conditioning or memory, he has very definite reactions to negative and positive situations. Some reactions seem to come out of no where.

Oscar definitely has emotions - he pouts, gives us the cold shoulder, gets excited, is thrilled to see us and yes, he smiles.

Mostly I believe, he has empathy for our emotions. Now, that's a true friend!

There's no question that - like elephants - there are some dogs that do NOT forget. rescue dogs in particular, very often come with a 'history' and are naturally wary of repeating any experience they remember as being detrimental or negative. But then again, aren't we all?
The thing is, an awful lot of this canine caution is also isntinctive.

I mean, how many times do we ever say to ourselves "Uh-oh... I have a bad feeling about this...." ? Unfortunately, we might be influenced at that point, by those around us who over-ride our feelings, or persuade us that we're being irrtional, unreasonable... and we go along with them, because we don't wish to appear foolish 'party poopers'.... Oh boy! And how many times do we live to regret going against our feelings - ?!

Animals don't have that feedback, when they're with us. They don't have that species-reassurance, or actual canine parners who can reassure them, or even, validate their senses. Not always.

(Multiple-dog owners will recognise how a pack will support one another, and a fearful dog, in good company, can overcome, or lose its fear.)

When we have a lone dog though, that element of direct communication is missing, if we are unaware of the most effective and mutually beneficial way of engaging with our dog.
And the most effective and mutually beneficial way of engaging with our dog, is for us to engage with our dog as if we were a dog.
They can't come "up" to our level, so we must go "down" to theirs.

Now, I am not suggesting in any way shape or form that they are an inferior species. As far as I am concewrned, this is NOT the case. Frankly, in many behavioural ways, they knock spots off us.
In a natural environment, for example, the Wolf (the ancestor and near cousin of our dogs) is logical, loving, patient, compassionate, and very capable. To see it interacting with its pack members is just extraordinarily heart-warming and educational.

The reasosn dogs get screwed up, is because we screw them up.
Sometimes, it's due to downright cruelty, that other later, more compassionate owners (hopefully) will have to deal and cope with.
But more often than not, it's due to too much "wrong kind of" Love.
And this is waht causes immense problems, because by changing their behaviour, owners feel they're not loving the dog enough, or that it's cruel.

Dogs DO have emotions.
Dogs DO have memories.
And yes, most certainly, dogs DO pick up on our emotions.
Emotions are feelings. Feelings are Energy. Dogs instinctively pick up and home in on, or tune into, our energy. Even seasoned dog owners occasionally ask themselves - "How did he know that - ?!"
The truth is, we become our dog's pack. And it does its best to interact with members of a pack that sometimes do weird things, and are frankly, often unpredictable.
And the reason we're unpredictable, is that we use instinct very little, and logic and reason and intellect, a great deal. Aspects dogs are not equipped with to the extent we are.
so we get unpredictable behaviour, and odd reactions which we in turn, cannot alweays decipher

I wish I had a dollar for every time an owner has asked me,
"What does it mean when my dog does *this*?"
I'd rival Bill Gates' millions - !

My answer is always, but always along the lines of -
"Don't worry about that. The question you should always be asking, is - 'What should I do now?' "

I'm so sorry this post has been so long.
I hope it's helped...

And Michelle - all... - I'm sorry if I appeared to be tetchy earlier on. I've re-read my posts.
I sounded snappy, which was not the way I intended my posts to be.

Sorry all.

Beautiful quote Michelle!....