The earth split in two, and the men and beasts were
separated by a profound abyss..
In the great chaos of creation, birds, insects, and four-legged creatures sought to save themselves in flight-All but the dog.
He alone stood at the edge of the abyss - barking, howling, pleading. The man, moved by compassion, cried, "Come!"
And the dog hurled himself across the chasm to join them. Two front paws caught the far edge. The dog would certainly have been lostforever had man not caught him and saved his life.
-Mythology of 'the people'-
-Mythology of 'the people'-
Through out my childhood years, and subsequently, the entire course of my life, there has always been a dog in the family...
This common link in my life has been so much a 'staple', it was not until recently, I realized just how taken for granite that unbroken chain has become...
This tradition is without doubt, an extension of my Father's side of the family..
The Hathaway's are outdoors folk...Fishing, hunting, camping, naturalists..
My Mom's parents,The Foley's, were....'art deco'....Spotless...Foley homes were always perfectly arranged inside and out...Like a food advertisement for a fancy restaurant...
... NO pet's allowed...
I guess the same Foley 'policy' applied to my Dad as well...
While courting my Mother he was driven off the Foley property time after time via a power nozzle attachment on their squeaky clean green garden hose.
Anyway, knowing my Mom's heart of gold, I can imagine her secretly wanting a pet while she was a youngin', but never confronting her parents....
Like a little girl living in Brooklyn who dreams of owning her own pony..
My parents' dogs were technically not allowed inside the house..There was always one of those little 'dog houses' provided however..Usually tucked in a far corner of the back yard..
I bet Mom used to scrub the dog house down once a week and I just never saw her do it....
We lived in western Washington State for a time. During those years our Golden Retriever made out fairly well..Do to the general dampness of the climate 'Buck' was allowed his own place just inside the back door. There was a definitive border marked by the unfinished sub flooring of Buck's room and the finished kitchen floor it interfaced...
Buck spent most days outside by his own accord..
Nights however were a constant battle of wills..All through the preparation and consumption of dinner, Buck would periodically inch his way into the kitchen until scolded.... back to his room.. Then the whole process would start over..
I developed a tangible imagery of the term 'give em' an inch and they'll take a mile' from good ole Buck..
When it comes to pet dogs ... It starts like this........
This common link in my life has been so much a 'staple', it was not until recently, I realized just how taken for granite that unbroken chain has become...
This tradition is without doubt, an extension of my Father's side of the family..
The Hathaway's are outdoors folk...Fishing, hunting, camping, naturalists..
My Mom's parents,The Foley's, were....'art deco'....Spotless...Foley homes were always perfectly arranged inside and out...Like a food advertisement for a fancy restaurant...
... NO pet's allowed...
I guess the same Foley 'policy' applied to my Dad as well...
While courting my Mother he was driven off the Foley property time after time via a power nozzle attachment on their squeaky clean green garden hose.
Anyway, knowing my Mom's heart of gold, I can imagine her secretly wanting a pet while she was a youngin', but never confronting her parents....
Like a little girl living in Brooklyn who dreams of owning her own pony..
My parents' dogs were technically not allowed inside the house..There was always one of those little 'dog houses' provided however..Usually tucked in a far corner of the back yard..
I bet Mom used to scrub the dog house down once a week and I just never saw her do it....
We lived in western Washington State for a time. During those years our Golden Retriever made out fairly well..Do to the general dampness of the climate 'Buck' was allowed his own place just inside the back door. There was a definitive border marked by the unfinished sub flooring of Buck's room and the finished kitchen floor it interfaced...
Buck spent most days outside by his own accord..
Nights however were a constant battle of wills..All through the preparation and consumption of dinner, Buck would periodically inch his way into the kitchen until scolded.... back to his room.. Then the whole process would start over..
I developed a tangible imagery of the term 'give em' an inch and they'll take a mile' from good ole Buck..
When it comes to pet dogs ... It starts like this........
...And if not kept in check,.....
.....ends up like this.....
.....ends up like this.....A short history....
Modern day Mitochondria* DNA sequences support the hypothesis that wolves
were the ancestors of dogs...
were the ancestors of dogs...
However most dog sequences belong to adivergent monophyletic clade* sharing no sequences with wolves...The sequence
divergence within this clade suggests dogs originated somewhere around 100,000
years ago..
A German burial site, Bonn-Oberkassel dating 14 thousand years ago is the oldest do date showing dog and man joined together...
America Danger Cave in Utah has a dog burial site that dates 11 thousand years ago..
China, 7,000b.c. and Sweden 5,000b.c....
The general scientific consensus is domesticated dogs appear approximately 13 thousand years ago...
* Mitochondria: An organelle containing enzymes responsible for producing energy.
*Clade:A group of biological taxa or species that share features
inherited from a common ancestor.
Dog attributes:
Dogs hear sound waves across the Hz frequency range far better than humans...Generally speaking, four times better than people..
This would account for my dog 'Buster' whining and carrying on at home, a full minute before I actually pull into my driveway..
My Grandson Shane advises me it's because Buster can 'smell' me coming a mile away...
Where in the world does this kid get the sarcastic wit from?....Anyway his remark provides a perfect segway to another dog attribute...
Sense of smell...
Human's have about 5 million smell sensitive cells...
That's plenty to get by on...Most of what we taste enjoying a meal is actually 'smell cell' based..
I may stand to be corrected here, however, I remember picking up some tidbit of information indicating our taste buds are generally sensitive to sweet and sour..
Point be, the rich bouquet and subtle distinctions of flavor are a result of our sense of smell.
Dogs have almost 220 million smell sensitive cells..
It is generally accepted that dogs use airborne scent to track recent targets, and ground scent to track older targets, as ground scent lasts much longer..
Dogs are smart!
This would account for my dog 'Buster' whining and carrying on at home, a full minute before I actually pull into my driveway..
My Grandson Shane advises me it's because Buster can 'smell' me coming a mile away...
Where in the world does this kid get the sarcastic wit from?....Anyway his remark provides a perfect segway to another dog attribute...
Sense of smell...
Human's have about 5 million smell sensitive cells...
That's plenty to get by on...Most of what we taste enjoying a meal is actually 'smell cell' based..
I may stand to be corrected here, however, I remember picking up some tidbit of information indicating our taste buds are generally sensitive to sweet and sour..
Point be, the rich bouquet and subtle distinctions of flavor are a result of our sense of smell.
Dogs have almost 220 million smell sensitive cells..
It is generally accepted that dogs use airborne scent to track recent targets, and ground scent to track older targets, as ground scent lasts much longer..
Dogs are smart!Predators are quick learners in the natural world. The ability to survive prescribes a heightened awareness and the ability to react to fresh situations..This includes a keen sense of interpreting body language and sound..
Why Man and Dog stuck together:
I believe the corner stone foundation block of Man and Dog relationship lies in a mutual alliance of basic values...In a nut shell, both believe in the concept of "friends with benefits."
Some 12,000 years ago man realized the potential of befriending wolves and their descendents...Using canine attributes as a tool, man honed his skills as a hunter and tracker of game..The 'win win' situation is established when Man feeds Dog for Dog's services...The Dog is fine with it...Better than chasing down some ADHD rabbit..Plus the Man's food is better...
I believe the corner stone foundation block of Man and Dog relationship lies in a mutual alliance of basic values...In a nut shell, both believe in the concept of "friends with benefits."
Some 12,000 years ago man realized the potential of befriending wolves and their descendents...Using canine attributes as a tool, man honed his skills as a hunter and tracker of game..The 'win win' situation is established when Man feeds Dog for Dog's services...The Dog is fine with it...Better than chasing down some ADHD rabbit..Plus the Man's food is better...
Three thousand years later Man is domesticating animals for his needs..Dog's versatility pays off cuz now he has two jobs...Can hunt and can be trained to protect Man's domesticated animals as........
...Guard dog!!!!!!!About 1,500 B.C. Man begins to breed dogs with the intention of promoting certain dog's prevalent characteristics...Such as...
Or.....
Everybody loves a clown!
Everybody loves a hero!!!!By 1,400 A.D. dogs had become fashionable as pets....
(Note: I realize the pics are not an accurate depiction of the time line they are slotted in...As fortune would
have it, both my digital camera and my 'time machine' were in the shop all week..)
Today there are about three hundred and fifty,........one,......different breeds of Dogs! .....(Now that's got to make some folks nervous).....
As a member of the animal kingdom I have observed and tried to recognize ways to open lines of communication with........I must admit do to the vast amount of knowledge required, proficiency in my lifetime is out of the question..
I have resigned myself to one 'communicative' goal in everyday interaction with animal life...
.......Present myself as a friend....And so finally I am almost done with this blog....Hallelujah !!
However, There is one other matter that I feel I must address...
'The Future relationship of dog and man'
However, There is one other matter that I feel I must address...
'The Future relationship of dog and man'
Part two of Preferent Kinship will probe the demands today's society places on individuals and how 'finding time' in our lives forces us to prioritize our daily activities...As this relates to our pets...How far down the list are our pets becoming prioritized?..Why are virtual pets and robotic pets becoming more popular? Are men and women becoming desensitized to the 'real' world, and is the 'virtual' world becoming the real world?....Where does that leave our relationships with our animal friends?
