Inside a Dog's Mind : Part 3

Continued....However, let us not forget the broader range of benefits dogs provide, like lowering our blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improving our overall physical health, and promoting better mental well-being.

Plus, exposure to dogs helps strengthen our immune system and reduces the chances of developing allergies in children. How can this be? Believe it or not, when a dog gives you a slobbery kiss, those microbes enter your gut and support gut health!

However, there is still more to learn about the benefits of dogs to us and the philosophy behind their creation as companions to help and teach us. Besides teaching us humility and patience, dogs also show us how to be unbiased.

 I mean, how many family feuds and loss of friends are caused by different opinions or political views?  It’s ridiculous! Maybe right now you’re ready to toss this writing in the woodstove because you don’t agree.  This is my point: dogs love unconditionally, while we, as dumb humans, start wars over different ideologies.

 Sure, we don't need to adopt some of the habits they develop in the kennel. I’m sure many of you already know these habits without me mentioning them, but do your dog’s love you anyway, despite YOUR bad habits? Thus, a great lesson for all humankind!

There is one factor about dogs that can either lead to their demise or facilitate their strength and potential, and that is their profound love for us.  It’s up to us to care for this love, just as we would a precious herb or spice, or use it up hastily until it’s gone.

And I’m certain, my friends, that you don’t want to use up this love in your dog, only to leave them or trade them for a new dog for your team, or for your couch buddy and hiking companion. But what happens when a long-distance racer “drops” a dog in a race?  This is general practice. 

Now, there might be injuries or sickness as the reason for the pooch to be dropped, but mostly, they’ve fallen behind in the pace of the others. 

The dog gave all he had to the musher out of pure love and sheer joy of running, and now he’s fired or laid off. So, what happens to that dog’s mind? 

First, he instinctively won’t pull or run that hard again.  Instead, he will conserve his energy and strength because he doesn’t trust that it won’t ever happen again. 

And this mediocre pulling scheme becomes the norm for the team, and frankly, for the mushing community’s standards. But this is nothing new.

 For over a century, from the early explorers who drove their dogs thousands of miles across the polar regions to long-distance racing nowadays, it is the norm that dogs are unable to pull heavy freight while breaking trail in deep snow, because, I’m told, “they quit”. And besides, “it’s impossible”.

This takes us to this quote again:

“When a dog discovers that his strength has a limit, he will accept this limit as the peak of his strength.

However, if he doesn’t know his limit and has never discovered it by being overworked, then he will reach deep within himself and exhibit feats of strength beyond human comprehension.